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| credit - defencenet |
A second Turkish research vessel set sail on Friday, this time in the northern Aegean. Reports claim that the TCG Cubuklu is going to survey areas in Turkish territorial waters but also warn that it is also planning to conduct oceanographic research in certain areas near the south of Samothrace and west of Ai Stratis. The Hellenic Navy has been placed on alert in case the surveyor ship enters Greek territorial waters or Greece's continental shelf.
Now that Turkey submitted a note verbale to the UN in response to a similar move from Greece in February, it is obviously elevating the tension in the Aegean and directly challenging Greece's continental shelf.
According to the Turkish Navtex 168/13, the research vessel TCG Cubuklu is going to conduct oceanographic surveys as of March 13 and until April 2 in areas within and outside of Turkish territorial waters. Two of the coordinates that have been given by Turkish authorities includes areas between Samothrace and Imvros, and between Lesvos and Ai Stratis.
A report on defencenet said that the Piri Reis, which apparently was spotted across from Chios on Thursday, (near Smyrna), completed its work, but this does not in any way mean that it will not return. The point is that all these motions are directly challenging Greece's sovereign rights.
But the real interest is obviously Turkey's recent acquisition of the modern Barbaros Hayeddin Pasa surveyor ship which Ankara purchased for a whopping 130 million Euros. The ship is apparently going to conduct seismic surveys in the Black Sea and then in the Mediterranean. The ship, which was purchased from the Polarcus company that is based in Dubai, has the technical ability to carry out seismic research in areas within Greece's continental shelf!
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