Tension grows between Turkey and Greece over the search for gas in the Mediterranean

Tension between Turkey and Greece over the search for gas in the Mediterranean has continued, with Ankara warning that it will not give up its maritime rights and Athens asking for, and receiving, the support of the European Union (EU), even amid contradictory accusations of a shoot-out at sea. 

"Ankara will defend the rights of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots in the eastern Mediterranean without making any concessions," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu told a press conference. 

"We set our boat in motion again. We are determined to continue the explorations in August," he said, referring to the Oruç Reis, a ship that has been searching for gas since yesterday, some 150 kilometres south of the Turkish coast, halfway between the Greek island of Crete and Cyprus. 

It is precisely in this area where the claims of exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Ankara and Athens overlap, since Greece delimits the space from its islands, while Turkey insists that only the continental coasts can be taken as a base to project this region of interest. 

The Oruç Reis is escorted by several Turkish warships, as recalled today by the Ministry of Defence in Ankara. 

"Our seismic vessel Oruç Reis is being escorted and protected by the Naval Forces and our country has taken all the necessary measures to protect its rights and interests according to international law in the maritime areas that correspond to it", indicates a statement from the department. 

Greece has urged Turkey to cease prospecting in areas that Athens considers to belong to it and has accused Ankara of "undermining peace and security in the region". 

The escalation of tension began last Friday when Greece and Egypt signed an agreement to delimit the two countries' EEZs, in a gesture designed to invalidate a similar treaty signed last November between Turkey and the internationally recognised government of Libya. 

In response, Ankara announced the resumption of the exploration activities it had suspended in July, at the request of Germany, as a gesture of goodwill to seek a dialogue with Greece. 

"Germany and some European countries made efforts for dialogue (between Turkey and Greece), but we said: 'You will see negative results, not positive ones'. What we said happened", declared today 'Cavusoglu, who assured that it is Greece that is not acting in good faith. 

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias called on Tuesday for an urgent meeting of the European Union's General Affairs Council, arguing that there is a clear threat from Turkey "to peace and security in the eastern Mediterranean, in Greece and Cyprus", the two partners in the EU club. 

"Despite our country's commitment to dialogue on the basis of the rules of international law and the law of the sea, a commitment that we now repeat, Turkey has decided to give in to its usual criminality," Dendias said in a statement. 

He reproached Ankara for not having made a sincere offer of dialogue and stressed that the Turkish government "lives and acts in the 19th century" and "abhors the modern perceptions that govern states in the 21st century". 

The European Commission (EC) expressed its solidarity with Greece and Cyprus on Tuesday and indicated that although it would be possible to organise such an extraordinary meeting, the plan is to address the issue at an informal meeting of foreign ministers already scheduled for the end of the month in Berlin. 

"The position of the EU agreed by all members is solidarity with Greece and Cyprus," EU Foreign Affairs spokesman Peter Stano said at a press conference. 

Added to the crossover of statements was a confusing incident between a Greek patrol boat and a boat crewed by two Turkish and one Syrian citizens, near the Greek island of Rhodes. 

While Turkey claims that the Greek boat shot and injured the boat's occupants, Athens claims that the shots were only a warning, after the boat ignored its warning sound and light signals and even tried to ram the patrol boat. 

While the former Greek prime minister and leader of the leftist Syria party, Alexis Tsipras, demanded a more forceful "national strategy" towards Turkey, his former finance minister and leader of the MeRA25 formation, Yanis Varufakis, was more conciliatory. 

Varufakis said that the current Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, today conveyed to him optimism about a rapid de-escalation, as the Turkish explorer ship, he said, is on the edge or even outside the Greek EEZ. 

In fact, today's position data of the Oruç Reis indicate the presence of the ship almost 300 kilometres south of the Turkish coast and more than 200 kilometres from the Greek island of Crete.