This Monday Turkey once again sent a research vessel, the "Oruc Reis", to investigate the seabed for natural gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean. According to an agreement between Greece and Egypt from last week on the affected sea area, Turkey has no rights there. This agreement defines a territory in which both states have an "Exclusive Economic Zone" (EEZ) off their own coasts, in which they have control over the resources in the sea. According to the agreement, the area navigated by the Turkish research vessel is part of the Greek zone.
Along with the maneuver of the research vessel, Turkey announced shooting exercises in the waters it navigated, Greece countered this on Monday with the announcement of a naval maneuver with shooting exercises. The agreement between Greece and Egypt is a reaction to the agreement that Turkey and Libya concluded last November for similar and overlapping sea areas. The affected territory in this case is Turkish territory.
The competition for the re-distribution of sea areas, sources of raw materials and military bases is in full throttle. With military demonstrations, the imperialists' lackeys are announcing their claims of ownership of strategically important sea areas, blaming each other as usual. So the imperialists are also keeping their contradictions in the eastern Mediterranean open to the point of military escalation.
