Return of Turkey ship reignites Greece row

ANKARA — Turkey has announced plans to send a research ship at the center of an energy rights row with Greece to the eastern Mediterranean again, a move likely to reignite tensions with Athens.

Turkey said on Sunday the Oruc Reis vessel would carry out activities in the region, including south of the Greek island of Kastellorizo, from Monday until Oct 22, in a message sent to the maritime alert system NAVTEX.

On Monday, Greece’s foreign ministry called the Turkish decision a “major escalation and a direct threat to peace and security in the region”.

The two neighbors were locked in a row over gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean in August, which saw the two NATO members stage rival air and navy drills in waters between Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete.

Ankara first deployed the Oruc Reis seismic research vessel and warships to disputed waters on Aug 10 and extended the mission, ignoring repeated calls to stop by Athens and the European Union.

The vessel will be joined in the latest “seismic survey” mission by two other ships called Ataman and Cengiz Han, according to the NAVTEX message.

The Oruc Reis was pulled back to shore last month from waters claimed by Greece in what many hoped was a sign Ankara and Athens could resolve the crisis through talks. Hope was further raised after Turkey and Greece agreed to exploratory talks last month after diplomatic efforts led by Germany to defuse the crisis.

The talks had been stalled since 2016 and the expectation was for their resumption in Istanbul, but no exact date was ever given.

The EU at a summit earlier this month threatened to slap sanctions on Turkey if Ankara failed to stop what the bloc says is illegal drilling and energy exploration activities in waters claimed by Cyprus and Greece.

Turkey described the threat as “unconstructive” but its latest move will cause further strains in Ankara’s ties with Brussels.