Ankara, Turkey – Turkey’s prime minister has lashed out at Cyprus and Israel for what he described as their “madness for an oil search” in the Mediterranean, the state media reported Wednesday.
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Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that a Turkish research ship will be “speedily” sent to the area after Cyprus began a similar search near sizable gas finds inside Israeli waters earlier this week, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
He also said the country has sent warships to the area, as it tries to force Cyprus to halt its exploration.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. Only Turkey recognizes the north and maintains 35,000 troops there.
Erdogan says Cyprus’ drilling, carried out by the U.S. firm Noble Energy Inc., undermines the rights of Turkish Cypriots and is aimed at “sabotaging” efforts to reunify the island. Cyprus has licensed Noble Energy to search for oil and gas near Israel’s recently discovered offshore gas fields that contains more than 450 billion cubic meters (15.9 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas.
Deposits are also believed to lie inside Cypriot waters near the Israeli finds, which Cyprus is now exploring.
Turkey, however, has said it does not recognize an agreement reached between Israel and Cyprus in 2010 that marked out the exclusive economic zone between the two countries. Turkey has also called on Egypt and Lebanon to scrap similar agreements they have with Cyprus that delineated Mediterranean undersea borders to facilitate the search for mineral deposits.
“What is happening in Cyprus is Israel’s and Cyprus’ engagement in madness for oil search,” the Anatolia agency quoted Erdogan as saying. “It is actually nothing but sabotaging the negotiation process between the northern Cyprus and the southern Cyprus.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in New York on Monday that the island’s recognized government had a right to decide how it exploits its resources, according to officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.
Israel is also seeking potential energy deals with Turkey’s archrival Greece involving newly discovered Israeli offshore natural gas deposits that include fields near Gaza.
Turkey’s relations with Israel, once a close military ally, recently soured over Israel’s refusal to apologize for last year’s deadly raid by Israeli commandos on a flotilla attempting to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nine Turkish activists were killed in international waters.
Erdogan threatened last week that Turkish warships would ensure the freedom of navigation in the eastern Mediterranean and protect any other Gaza-bound aid ships in the future.
Turkey’s relations with Israel, once a close military ally, recently soured over Israel’s refusal to apologize for last year’s deadly raid by Israeli commandos on a flotilla attempting to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nine Turkish activists were killed in international waters.
I think this was the excuse turkey was waiting for, the government has turned more to the radical Muslim faction and we all know what happens when that happens
Here we go again, Turkey and Ahmedjihad of Iran are competing for whoever can create more noise by all means! Can someone explain to the Turks; the days of the Ottiman empire is long gone! of course, as they couldn’t come up with any drilling of thier own, it will always be Israels fault!
So, Turkey’s warmongering is all about OIIIIILLLLLLL….. Who knew? Or, more importantly, keeping oil wealth out of the hands of the Greek Cypriots since that will embolden them politically to start making noise at the UN about Turkey’s illegal 1974 annexation. Having Israel as a convenient “bad boy” makes the rhetorical argument easy for the Boy Sultan.
#1 Your wording is off, you mean Turkey is just upset, they were against us already after operation cast lead, After the legal Israeli raid which its commandos boarded the ship with paint guns and were attacked 2 were stabbed etc. only then did the commandos use live fire. Israel has expressed regret at the loss of life. Turkey however insisted upon Israel lifting the blockade as part of its conditions to resume normal diplomatic channels. The truth is the Turkish prime minister has been shoring up support in the Arab world, at this point it does not matter what Israel does, it will always be accused of something.
This guy’s crazier than Qaddafi, Ahmedinejad, and Jimmy Carter all put together, and only slightly less dangerous. It’s true that picking fights with other countries can help a politician on the domestic political front, but you have to appear normal when doing so, not like a wacko.