EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

France to increase military presence, Erdoğan says 'We'll never bow to this scheme'

While France's Macron has asked Turkey to cease its hydrocarbon exploration activities, President Erodğan has said that all Turkey's actions in the region are legitimate.

İstanbul

France to increase military presence, Erdoğan says 'We'll never bow to this scheme'

Photos: AA/File

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Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, has said that his country's naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean will increase against Turkey's "unilateral" oil and gas exploration activities.

Ankara announced yesterday (August 12) that the Oruç Reis seismic research vessel has reached its destination for drilling activities.

France will temporarily reinforce its military to "monitor the situation in the region and mark its determination to uphold international law," a statement by Macron's office said yesterday, DW reported.

Macron also asked Turkey to cease its hydrocarbon exploration activities in "contested waters."

While Greece's Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, thanked him for his support, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan insisted that everything Turkey has done in eastern Maditerranean was legitimate.

After a phone call with Macron, Mitsotakis said in a tweet that he was a "true friend of Greece and also a fervent protector of European values and international law."

What happened?

As part of its hydrocarbon exploration activities, Turkey announced via Navtex the drillship MTA Oruç Reis' new seismic research activity in the Eastern Mediterranean starting August 10.

The Oruç Reis, along with the ships Ataman and Cengiz Han, will continue seismic activities in the Eastern Mediterranean through August 23.

In late June, after Athens objected to Ankara's seismic survey in an area south of the island of Meis, or Kastellorizo. Turkey had subsequently announced that it suspended the drilling activities after diplomatic efforts by Germany.

Following Greece's move last week to sign a maritime delimitation agreement with Egypt, Turkey decided to resume drilling.

Erdoğan: These actions are meant to encircle Turkey

"It's not Turkey that is increasing tensions in the Mediterranean, but rather the Greek Cypriot-Greek mentality attempting to disregard Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said today after a meeting with his party's provincial chairs, the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

Erdoğan repeated Turkey's call for dialogue and negotiation with Athens as "the only way to a resolution in the Eastern Mediterranean" for a "win-win solution." "We'd never pursue an unnecessary adventure or stoke tensions."

Reiterating that recent seismic research by Ankara's drillship, the MTA Oruc Reis, in the Eastern Mediterranean was within the boundaries of Turkey's continental shelf, he stressed that Turkey had no interest in violating any other country's rights but would also not allow infringements on its own.

He said all Turkey's actions in the region were legitimate and that recent actions against Turkey by other countries were meant to encircle the country from the sea.

"We'll never bow to this scheme. No country or company can conduct [drilling] surveys in our areas without our permission."

The President criticized Greece's claims of maritime jurisdiction via its island of Meis, or Kastellorizo, off Turkey's coast, saying that the case for a zone of 40,000 square kilometers (11,662 square nautical miles) via the roughly 10 square km (3.9 square miles) island was "ridiculous and unfounded."

Erdoğan also said he was due to hold phone talks separately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Charles Michel late on Thursday. (PT/VK)