Binali Yildirim, President of the Turkish Parliament, launched a threat to Cyprus and the companies that cooperate with the Republic, on their hydrocarbon exploration. Yildirim said that “the big companies that are doing research should know their limits. Turkey will respond to all efforts made in its legitimate interests in the eastern Mediterranean and the rights of the Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus. And it will do what he needs to be done. Everyone should know that we will not relinquish an inch of our legitimate rights and interests in the seas”, he said at an event at the University of Izmir for the research ship Koca Piri Reis, which was the cause of the crisis in 1987 in the Aegean.

The President of the Turkish Parliament has argued that Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration are violating international law and trying to violate Turkey’s powers and interests in the seas. “In recent years there has been a serious crisis on the issue of hydrocarbon extraction in the region of Cyprus. Seas are common property and heritage of humanity. Hence exploitation of ownership by only one country, a community, has nothing to do with national and international law. And for the Exclusive Economic Zone around Cyprus and the extraction of natural wealth from the seabed, there must definitely be an agreement between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the South. This is a turning point”, he said

Binali Yildirim also referred to the story of “Piri Reis” in Turkey. “Then there was also a crisis. As a result of the crisis that existed in the Aegean, Turkey took this step to monitor its rights and interests in the sea. With great enthusiasm came this ship in those days from Germany, where it was built, to discover the seas again, to uncover our capabilities and abilities”, Yildirim said. He argued that “Greece today as then, continues its intransigent stance regarding the continental shelf”.

There has been a lot of talk around Yildirim’s name over the past few days, and there are scenarios that in the local elections in March 2019, he will run for mayor of the ruling AKP party in Istanbul.

Source: Manolis Kostidis/balkaneu