In the Eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish drilling vessel “Abdulhamid Khan” is expected to sail today, a move that Ankara has long announced, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prepared a party to announce the departure of the drilling vessel.
Speaking yesterday at the 13th Diplomacy Conference, the Turkish president officially announced that Abdul Hamid Khan will start its work today, without however giving the exact location.
“To date we have not allowed transactions to take place in our jurisdictions without our participation, and we will not do so in the future,” he said.
“The natural gas discovery we made in the Black Sea was the first result of our persistent efforts. Tomorrow our 4th drilling rig, named Abdul Hamid Khan, will start its mission from Mersin’s Tasuju port,” noted Tayyip Erdogan.
How Athens and Nicosia see the Turkish moves
For their part, Athens and Nicosia are on full alert, both militarily and diplomatically, with the Greek diplomatic and military authorities examining all scenarios of the possible sailings of “Abdulhamid Khan”. In the Turkish plan, Cyprus seems to be the “weak link”, with the Turks considering that they can more easily exert pressure on the Republic of Cyprus.
In its initial movement, the Turkish drilling rig may be headed between the Turkish coast and the occupied part of Cyprus, executing the illegal permits that the Turkish oil company has received from the pseudo-state, as reported by ERT.
According to Dimitris Stathakopoulos, Dr. of Pantei and Turkologist, the wealth of “Abtoulhamid Khan” will initially be in the context of northern Cyprus, then possibly go to some demarcated part of the sea of Cyprus. With information indicating that the “Abdulhamit Khan” will then move to the northern part of Block 6, Turkey will once again challenge the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone.
As retired general Lambros Tzoumis told ERT, “if drilling is a very serious action, it creates an artificial island at this point, we are not talking about a research vessel that lays cables and possibly someone can say that it does not create a permanent damage”.
In the third scenario, the Turks would send the drill east of the 28th meridian, that is, in the area that starts south of Rhodes and reaches up to six miles outside of Paphos, challenging Greece’s potential sovereign rights. Ankara will thus set a new scene of tension, like in the summer of 2020.
SOURCE: Thetoc.gr
Source: Capital
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