Tensions in the Mediterranean: Ankara announces the extension of its search for gas fields

The Turkish drillship "Yavuz", here at the port of Divolasi, near Istanbul, on June 20, 2019. Bulent Kilic / AFP

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Turkey announced on Sunday August 16 that it would extend its search for gas fields in a disputed maritime area, ignoring the European Union's calls for de-escalation. Ankara and Athens have been fighting for months over the exploitation of hydrocarbons discovered in this area.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

Turkish drillships - and the warships that escort them - will not leave the eastern Mediterranean until diplomatic agreement is reached: this is the message Ankara sends to Greece and to the European Union with this new maritime notice. She informed them that the Yavuz , deployed off Cyprus for several months, will search for hydrocarbons in the south-west of the island between August 18 and September 15.

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Turkey is therefore expanding its prospecting area, while at least two other of its ships - the Oruç Reis and the Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa - are also currently probing the seabed of the eastern Mediterranean for natural gas, in areas claimed by Greece.

The latest notification from the Turkish navy comes with a warning - "  We strongly advise against going into the search zone  " - which rekindles fears that this show of force will degenerate into a Greco-Turkish clash. The day before, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had called for dialogue, while warning that his country would not back down "  in the face of threats and sanctions  ". Sanctions that the European Union could soon impose on Turkey if it continues these drilling deemed "  illegal  ".

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