Following a recent great discovery when Turkey has found natural gas in the Black Sea, Turkey’s President promised another good news from the Mediterranean region.
In his televised speech on Monday, President Erdogan called last week’s discovery of natural gas reserves a prelude to upcoming good news from the Mediterranean.
According to the Turkish leader, there is another substantial evidence that the natural gas discovery foreshadows a much bigger gas find. For Turkey, that means independence from international suppliers.
However, the relations between Turkey and neighbouring Greece could be worsened due to a recent Navtex alert. Navtex is a maritime communications system that allows ships to inform other vessels about their presence in an area, as well as other information.
Greece ‘sowing chaos in Mediterranean, says Erdogan
Turkey resumed energy exploration earlier this month in the Eastern Mediterranean after Greece and Egypt signed a controversial maritime delimitation deal.
On Monday, Erdogan said that Turkey’s navy will not back down as Greece “sows chaos” in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where the nations have deployed frigates in an escalating confrontation over overlapping resource claims.
“The ones who throw Greece in front of the Turkish navy will not stand behind them,” the Turkish leader said after Monday cabinet meeting. According to him, Athens did not have the right to broadcast maritime navigational and weather advisories, known as Navtex, in areas claimed by Ankara.
“Greece has declared its own Navtex unlawfully and in a spoiled manner…With this approach, Greece has sown a chaos that it will not be able to escape from,” Erdogan said.
Turkey has extended the exploration mission of its Oruc Reis survey ship in a disputed part of the eastern Mediterranean to Aug. 27, stoking tensions in the region. Athens has called the survey illegal.
