“No one can stop us in the eastern Mediterranean”, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said while addressing Turkey’s national assembly on occasion of the 948th anniversary of the Battle of Manzikert.

Turkey would continue its actions in the region at a rapid pace, Mr. Erdogan underlined, telling Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu that “by saying ‘we are Ataturk’s party’ is not enough.” You’re done. By winning 3-4 municipalities you are achieving nothing,” the Turkish President said.

“Mr Kemal says the US is in the Aegean, the French and Turkey are not there. This person is probably looking but is blind. We have our drilling rigs there, our research vessels, our frigates, and at any time our unmanned aircraft are ready to go. He doesn’t see that. Mr. Kemal probably doesn’t even know our flags. One cannot be a party in this country by supporting the terrorists in the mountains, the Greek Cypriots in the sea, our enemies in the air and whoever is against us,” Erdogan said.

The Turkish President also said that “in the eastern Mediterranean, drilling rigs and research vessels are continuing our work nonstop, no one is blocking us and no one can stop us there.”
On his part, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Dönmez stressed that the eastern Mediterranean is a common issue for all of Turkey and reiterated that Ankara would not back down.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, speaking at a conference at the Istanbul Polytechnic, Fatih Dönmez said that “our ships Barbaros, Oruc Reis, Fatih, and Yavuz, which we have included in our list, are the clearest evidence of Turkey’s national energy policy and its decisive stance.”