Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted strongly to the maritime demarcation agreement between Greece and Egypt, signed in Cairo on Thursday, saying he would resume oil exploration activities in the region as a response to the agreement.

Erdogan said Ankara had stopped trying to locate hydrocarbons at the request of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, he announced new activities after the agreement, something he said he had informed the chancellor about.

“What are Greece and Egypt doing there?” he wondered outside Hagia Sophia, where he went for a second Friday for prayer and reiterated that the Greece-Egypt agreement is non-existent.

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“Merkel asked me to stop drilling. We said, “if you trust Greece, the others, we will take a break for a few weeks, but we do not trust them.” “They did not keep their promises and now we have immediately resumed drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he said, adding that Turkey would resolutely pursue the agreement with Libya.

“Especially in maritime jurisdiction, we do not even need to negotiate with those who do not have rights or laws,” he added.

Turkey had paused hydrocarbon exploration efforts upon German Chancellor Merkel’s request for a solution, President Erdoğan says, but drilling to resume immediately as Athens, Cairo go back on their word pic.twitter.com/9gxLdVYvQg

— ANews (@anewscomtr) August 7, 2020