New escalation in Eastern Mediterranean again as Ankara sends the scientific research ship Oruc Reis in the Greek Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for new illegal seismic surveys.
According to the Turkish media, on Sunday night, the surveys will be carried out in an area south of the Greek island of Kastellorizo, from Monday October 12th until October 22nd.
The Navtex was issued at 23:50′ on Sunday night and the closest part of the area booked is .
The area that is booked for the illegal surveys starts from a long distance south of Rhodes and its northern part is only 7.5 nautical miles from Kastellorizo.
At 00:16′ in the morning hours of Monday, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu posted a two-word tweet: Oruc Reis.
Oruç Reis
— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) October 11, 2020
Washington should stop pretending that Turkey is an ally – Analysis
The Oruc Reis was used by Turkey for its illegal surveys in the Greek EEZ twice during the Summer and brought the two countries on the brink of war.
The response he received from his Turkish followers was immediate and enthusiastic, with people writing “We waited too long“, “Till the end”, “May our veterans be blessed“, etc.
This move comes as Athens and Ankara seem to have agreed to start again the exploratory talks, that may lead to the de-escalation of the tensions, and six days after the re-opening of the Varosha beachfront at the sealed city of Famagusta in the occupied part of Cyprus, in violation of all relevant UN Resolutions.
