As Turkey has suggested the international court at The Hague could take part, Greece wants the United Nations to disallow a deal Turkey signed with Libya dividing the seas between them and raising fears of a conflict.
The agreement that Greece said is unlawful because it ignores the UN Law of the Sea – which Turkey doesn’t recognize unless invoking in its own cause – saw Turkey claim waters off Greek islands including Rhodes and planning to drill for energy off Crete.
Turkey, already drilling off Cyprus in violation of that country’s sovereign seas, said it had no problem with the UN considering the deal but is annoyed that Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt are working together for an EastMed gas pipeline that would bring energy to the European Union and claim parts of the East Mediterranean.
Turkey’s presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told a Turkish TV channel that “Israel, Greece, the Greek Cypriots and Egypt have gathered and started talking about the EastMed. They have started making plans about the transmission to Europe of the gas quantities to be discovered in the eastern Mediterranean, bypassing Turkey. They speak of pipelines, they present maps… When such things happen we cannot stand there watching them,” said Kalin, according to a report on Skai TV.
“Greece argues that an area of some 15 kilometers has been trespassed on, and due to Crete they will refer the issue to the United Nations. Let them do so, that would not be a problem for us,” said the Turkish official.
Read more at thenationalherald.com
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