Turkey issues new NAVTEX off Cyprus

ANKARA

Turkey has issued a new NAVTEX for the seismic surveys to be carried out by Yavuz research vessel off Cyprus between Aug. 18 and Sept. 15, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Aug. 16 amid continued standoff between Ankara and Athens in the eastern Mediterranean.

According to the new NAVTEX, an advisory for the sailors, Yavuz will be accompanied by supply ships Ertuğrul bey, Osman Bey and Orhan Bey. “Not entering into a survey area is strongly advised,” read the Turkish advisory.

The Greek Cypriot administration issued a counter-NAVTEX early on Aug. 16 claiming that the Turkish NAVTEX is “null and void” and that the surveys of the Turkish ships is illegal.

Turkey says the area Yavuz and other ships have been dispatched to is part of the Turkish continental shelf.

The tension with the Greek Cyprus in the region comes as Turkey and Greece are already in a row over the surveys of the Oruç Reis research ship in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey denies Greek claims that its Meis Island, an island with 10 kilometers square and 2 kilometers from the Turkish mainland, generates 40,000 kilometers square maritime jurisdiction area in the Mediterranean Sea.

The tension in the region flared up after Egypt and Greece signed a maritime delimitation agreement disregarding the Turkish rights and sovereignty in the region.