Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that there is no value to the agreement to demarcate the sea border between Egypt and Greece, and announced that his country has resumed gas exploration operations in the eastern Mediterranean after it was suspended to make way for negotiations with Greece.
In remarks he made after Friday prayers at the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul, Erdogan said that Turkey once again sent the seismic vessel "Barbaros" on a mission that falls within the excavations taking place on the coast of the Republic of Northern Cyprus.
He added that he had agreed to suspend the excavations at the request of German Chancellor Angela Merkel with the aim of facilitating talks between Turkey and Greece, accusing Athens of not fulfilling its promises after signing an agreement to demarcate the sea border with Egypt.
"We do not need to negotiate with those who do not have any rights in the areas of maritime jurisdiction," the Turkish president added.
Erdogan confirmed that his country will continue with great firmness to adhere to the agreement to demarcate the maritime borders with Libya, which it signed with the Libyan National Accord government last November in parallel with an agreement for military cooperation.
Cairo and Athens announced yesterday the signing of a bilateral agreement to demarcate the maritime borders between the two parties, which includes defining the exclusive economic zones for each of them in the Mediterranean, and this agreement appears - in response to the Turkish-Libyan agreement.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, said that the agreement represents a new and important stage between Cairo and Athens, while his Greek counterpart described this agreement that it will comply with international law, in contrast to the agreement concluded between Turkey and the Libyan reconciliation government, as he put it.
With no value,
Ankara and Tripoli rushed to reject the agreement concluded between Egypt and Greece, which, alongside France, topped an anti-Turkey front in the issue of exploiting energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean region, in which large gas reserves were discovered in the past years.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said yesterday - in a statement - that there is no value to the agreement on demarcating the maritime borders between Egypt and Greece, and that the agreement "was not because there were no maritime borders between Greece and Egypt, and Turkey will act according to this concept in the field and on the table."
The Turkish statement added that this agreement causes Egypt to lose 11,500 square kilometers of its lands, just as it lost another area when it concluded an agreement with South Cyprus in 2003, "thus leading this agreement to try to usurp the rights of Libya as well."
He stressed that Turkey would not allow any activities in the aforementioned region, and that it would continue to firmly defend its rights and the legitimate Turkish Cypriot rights and interests of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry indicated that the alleged area lies within the Turkish continental shelf, which was reported to the United Nations by Ankara.
For its part, the Libyan Al-Wefaq government said it would not allow anyone to attack its maritime rights, and stressed the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Turkey.