Turkish Navy frigate Gaziantep escorts drilling vessel Fatih October 30, 2018 © Reuters / Can Sezer
RT reports (source):
Ankara will not allow any “sea bandits” to roam free and tap the disputed natural gas reserves off Cyprus, Turkey’s president has vowed, while commissioning a new warship to challenge competitors militarily, should the need arise.
“We will not accept attempts to seize natural resources in the Eastern Mediterranean through the exclusion of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC),” Erdogan said Sunday, according to Daily Sabah. While claiming that Turkey has no ambitions to annex any “territories,” Ankara promised to protect “the rights of our country and of our brothers.”
“Those who thought that they could take steps in the Eastern Mediterranean or the Aegean despite [this] have begun to understand the magnitude of their mistake. We will not allow bandits in the seas to roam free just like we made the terrorists in Syria pay,” Erdogan said at a ceremony transferring the TCG Burgazada corvette to the Turkish Navy.
The exploration of hydrocarbon resources off the coast of the Republic of Cyprus has become a sensitive issue for the international community, ever since the first gas deposit discoveries were made off the coast in 2011. While the Republic of Cyprus belongs to the EU community and is recognized by the UN, TRNC, the northern third of the island, has been occupied by Turkey since 1974. As a result, Ankara continues to claim jurisdiction for offshore research in the East Mediterranean, an area thought to be rich with natural resources.
The region has recently witnessed an escalation in tensions, after the Turkish Navy intercepted a Greek frigate which tried to interfere with a Turkish research vessel’s seabed exploration on October 18. The incident prompted a diplomatic row with Greece, which traditionally supports the ethnically Greek government of the Republic of Cyprus. While Greece denied interfering with the Turkish research vessel, Ankara has cautioned its neighbor and longtime opponent not to stir trouble in the region.
To ease tensions, Cyprus’ President Nicos Anastasiades has offered Turkey on Friday to cooperate on exploiting the East Mediterranean’s potential oil and gas wealth, stressing that the ethnically split island nation should be reunified. All previous international efforts to unite the island have failed. To avoid any further intercommunal tensions and hostilities the United Nations continues to maintain a buffer zone there.
“We will continue with our goal of exercising the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus, as an independent state – member of the European Union, proceeding seamlessly with our energy planning for the benefit of all the legitimate inhabitants of the country, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots,” the president noted.
US-based ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum have already been licensed by the Cypriot government to undertake seabed exploration of Block 10. Last month, Nicosia also invited France’s Total, Italy’s ENI and ExxonMobil to explore Block 7. ExxonMobil’s Stena IceMax drillship is scheduled to arrive in Cyprus on November 12. Turkey, meanwhile, started conducting its first deep-sea drilling off Antalya’s shores on its Mediterranean coast this week.
There is the sixth fleet nearby.
i hope they will use the fleet to do its job ….sink all the orcish ships!!!
And?
And the exxonmobil is piercing there.
and nothing will change yanks r useless .can try you wish.they not gone loose turkey for little Ireland
They do not lose Turkey if they get gas. It is the Turk who will leave the gas so as not to lose the USA.
Let’s hope you find gas .then we talk .at the moment you lot having lots of baked beans
Nah! Turkey is US ‘s whore. They have had a lover’s quarrel for the moment so she is rubbing up against Russia for now but soon they( US and Turkey) will kiss and make up and the USA will be sending her boxes of chocolates again.you’ll see.
Make oil bandits pay, like terrorists in Syria did? We still remember the long line of oil ranker trucks going all the way to Turkish border, carrying stolen oil from both Syria and Iraq. I wonder who bought that oil, where that oil went and who paid whom? But we know for sure that it was Russia who stopped it, while MSM cried over “innocent” truck drivers.
Now Turkey is angry because they think others are trying to rob them of what is their right. So far all the discovered fields (1 to 12) are located on the south side of Cyprus, so even if they somehow accept Turkish control over northern Cyprus, the fields are still not in Turkish controlled zone. Not to mention Israel has special attention to these fields and no place for Turkey in their plans.
with out turkey permission they can’t do jack shit
Turkey ✊?️ has become another Target for white supremacist becarefull ? Russia can Negotiate in cyprusissue ?pea ☮️ peaceful world countries ? Trust Russia ? more than US
Those drillers are international companies and not owned by USA at all. We see Shell and BP as oildrillellers in Russia.And why: Because they are where good at is. Many companies are very good.
So its about taxing them well and to which pockets for almost free. Furthermore the crude oil is the lowest income. Oil(and gas) raise many 1000%, where its upgraded into products in stead of only fuel as well.
Off course Turks also want a piece of the cake.
Very biased version. Erdogan see Grece and Syria exact the same way even the borders already is well made.
And off course it name Exxon and Qatar oil only.