Türkiye committed an act of aggression against Greece and proposed negotiations
The Turkish research vessel Oruk Reis, accompanied by warships, began seismic exploration of the shelf near the Greek island of Kastellorizo and in Greek territorial waters.
At the same time, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited the Mediterranean countries to sit down at the negotiating table.
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, Ankara started talking about negotiations, essentially committing an act of aggression, unceremoniously entering foreign territorial waters in order to explore the continental shelf for the presence of hydrocarbons. However, these actions seem illegal to Greece and the international community, which transferred sovereignty over the islands of the Aegean Sea to Athens according to the Treaty of Paris in 1947, but not to Turkey, which did not sign this document then. And the Turks, in turn, consider the 200-mile territory from the coast of Asia Minor to be theirs.
“The Mediterranean step by step, Oruk Reis is taking pictures of our sea,” Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez commented on the situation on Twitter. – By August 23, 1 kilometers of seismic cable will be laid in the Mediterranean Sea for volumetric seismic research. The path is open and there is a lot of energy.”
At the same time, seeing that tension around what was happening was growing, and that not only Greece was ready to counteract Ankara’s plans, but also France, Egypt and Israel, with which Athens held emergency negotiations, Erdogan decided to sweeten the pill by inviting all possible parties to the conflict to sit down negotiation table.
“Turkey does not claim anyone’s legitimate rights, territories or sea,” the Turkish leader said. “But we will not allow our rights to what belongs to us to be limited.” Turkey will continue to implement its plans, including in diplomacy, until common sense prevails.”
At the same time, the situation in the Aegean Sea is really tense to the limit. And primarily because of the constant provocations of the Turkish authorities. In particular, the day before, the Greek Coast Guard was forced to open fire on a Turkish boat transporting migrants from Turkey to its territory. According to the Greek version, after warning shots, the ship left Greek territorial waters, according to the Turkish version, after deadly fire, it sank, and its crew and passengers, who were rescued by Turkish boats, were injured, one of the victims was serious.
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