Erdogan Says Turkish Energy Exploration to Follow Libya Deal
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Turkey will issue new exploration licenses in the eastern Mediterranean now that it’s set a maritime border with Libya, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday, a step liable to exacerbate strains with Greece and the European Union.
Erdogan’s remarks underlined Turkey’s determination to press its claims in contested waters of the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean, where European nations, Egypt and Israel have built a forum to promote their interests. Turkey insists it has rights to energy finds there due to its claims to Cyprus’s north, which it seized in 1974. Greece, Cyprus and the EU oppose Ankara’s drilling operations within the island’s exclusive economic zone.