Turkish ship Oruç Reis returns to port before EU summit
Turkey announced on Monday the return to port of one of its exploration vessels, whose deployment in a potentially oil-rich area of the eastern Mediterranean has increased tensions with Greece and Europe.
NATO members Turkey and Greece are claiming the right to explore for hydrocarbons in the waters of the eastern Mediterranean. Tensions erupted in August when Ankara chartered the Oruç Reis to carry out a plan to explore the region. "Our seismic vessel Oruç Reis has completed its investigation launched on 10 August," the Turkish Ministry of Energy announced on Twitter.
The ship, according to the Turkish authorities, collected data on an area of "10,955 km2" in the Mediterranean Sea, before returning to the port of Antalya in southern Turkey. The announcement comes ahead of the European Council scheduled for 11-12 December, which will discuss the introduction of new sanctions against Ankara for its controversial exploration activities in the Mediterranean.
In October, before another EU summit, Turkey withdrew the vessel from the waters claimed by Greece, but after the meeting, which Ankara considered unsatisfactory, it sent it back to continue the operation. At the beginning of this month, the Turkish government said that the ship would work in the region until November 29.
The tracking data of the ship confirmed that the Oruç Reis returned to the port of Antalya on Monday morning. They also showed that the drilling ship Yavuz is in waters off the southern coast of Turkey, while the seismic survey ship Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa is still at sea off southern Cyprus, according to Reuters.
The discovery in recent years of large gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean has triggered a race for "blue gold" and revived old territorial disputes. In this context, Turkey has angered Greece and Cyprus by conducting exploration missions in waters claimed by Athens and Nicosia. The tensions between Athens and Ankara intensified with the deployment in August of Turkey's Oruç Reis, escorted by warships, to carry out explorations off the Greek island of Kastellorizo, two kilometres off the Turkish coast.
The Oruç Reis had already returned to port in September, which was interpreted at that time by Greece and the European Union as a sign of appeasement. But Ankara had ruled out any withdrawal and sent its exploration vessel back to the area on 12 October, which Greece denounced as a "direct threat to peace", as reported by the AFP agency.
Tensions between the two countries had eased somewhat after the earthquake that struck both countries at the end of October. But the extension of Oruç Reis' mission has provoked strong reactions from Greece, which is calling for EU action against Turkey.
The EU's high representative, Josep Borrell, tweeted a message to Ankara for an immediate easing of the situation in the eastern Mediterranean and the resumption of dialogue with Athens, echoing the decisions of the Council of Foreign Ministers which ended earlier.
"We have completed a good and constructive Council of Foreign Ministers. Eastern Mediterranean: full solidarity with Greece and Cyprus; we call on Turkey to immediately slow down and resume dialogue".
A few weeks ago, the EU Parliament called for sanctions to be imposed on Ankara for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Northern Cyprus and for Turkish operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, which it described as illegal. Turkey rejected this position outright.
EU leaders will meet on 11 and 12 December to discuss sanctions, with France leading the bloc. Diplomats point out that the measures against Ankara will be related to the economic activity derived from hydrocarbon exploration.
