Hydrocarbons at the heart of tensions between Turkey and Greece
Audio 02:12
A Turkish ship deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, at the center of tensions between Turkey and Greece who are fighting over this area potentially rich in natural gas (illustrative image).
REUTERS / Murad Sezer
By: Anissa El Jabri Follow
5 mins
The European Council of this Thursday, October 1 addresses in particular the subject of sanctions against Turkey.
Greece has been asking for them for weeks.
The main cause is the research carried out by Turkey in August and early September in Greek territorial waters in the eastern Mediterranean: Ankara is indeed claiming its share of the oil manna present in this area a few kilometers from its coast.
But the subjects of disputes are multiple.
Publicity
On the port of the island of Chios, 11 kilometers from the Turkish coast, complaints against the boats from the opposite country are raining in disarray.
Foray into territorial waters but also overfishing, Dimitri Kalimanas fisherman for three generations.
“
The Turks are really tough people. Their boats come into Greek territorial waters with huge fishing boats banned by the European Union that destroy the seabed.
"
In this region of the eastern Mediterranean, the two countries now compete less for fish than for resources buried deep underwater.
The search for hydrocarbons in this area, whether Greek or Turkish, is in any case harmful to the environment, say NGOs.
Dimitris Ibrahim is spokesperson for WWF Greece.
“
In this place the sea is very deep, in the south-west of the Peloponnese, we even find the lowest point in the Mediterranean, at more than 500 meters deep.
The ecosystem is very rich there, it is a region recognized as extremely important for the mammals of the sea. There is in particular an orca.
For this cetacean very sensitive to noise, seismic research has a very negative impact.
"
Whales, dolphins, turtles, seals, the noise of research disrupts the life of mammals, more than that even, "
a deaf whale is a dead whale
" say biologists and all that for income that is still very hypothetical. at WWF.
“
For example for the region of Crete, we will receive a percentage on the value of production.
In all the contracts it is very clear: it will be an amount between 4 and 16% of the value of the production.
So companies will receive up to 96% of the income
!
And Greece the rest.
And that, if and when there will be hydrocarbon extraction for Crete hopefully, it will be after 2030.
"
In this country which must withstand the shock of the pandemic after years of austerity, any new income, even distant ones, remains a hope, even if the research before potential future drilling is taking place in the middle of highly visited islands, Corfu, La Crete;
tourism weighs 20% of the Greek GDP.
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