Fourteen days from today and specifically on February 6, the NAVTEX for the Turkish floating drilling vessel Abdulhamid Khan, which wants it south southeast of Kastelorizo, but within the potential Turkish EEZ and continental shelf, expires.
We mention this particular vessel as there is the expressed intention of Turkey's Energy Minister that Ankara should send a vessel off Libya to search for and then export any hydrocarbon deposits found.
The position in which it is located makes it the closest Turkish vessel to the North African country. Except, of course, for the Turkish frigates that now regularly patrol the waters off Tripoli.
The rest of Turkey's research and drilling vessels are located in the following locations and ports.
The floating drilling vessels Yavuz, Fatih and Kanuni are in the Black Sea as part of Turkey's efforts to extract natural gas from there as well.
As for the research now. The famous Orutch Reyes is moored in the port of Filius in the Black Sea. Turkey's other notorious research vessel is tied up in the port of Trabzon. The Piri Reis is anchored in a port outside Izmir in the bay of the same name. Sismik is in the port of Tuzla in the Sea of Marmara. Bilim 2 is in the port of Tassuchou in Seleucia opposite Cyprus, and the Turbitak Marmara and Derinsu are conducting scientific research in the Sea of Marmara.
However, given that, as we wrote at the beginning, the Turks' intention to do something in the Turcolibos, combined with what the largest Turkish think tank has been reporting for the last 21 days about "increasing cooperation" between Greece and Turkey in the energy sector of the Eastern Mediterranean, without any official agreement (is there an agreement under the table?), if anything, it creates a dynamic for developments in the region.
It is worth remembering that when it is time for Turkey's "think tank", in its report, to refer to Greek-Turkish relations, it starts by saying: "Reconciliation between Turkey and Greece and their growing cooperation in the energy sector of the Eastern Mediterranean is going to positively affect Turkey-Europe relations."
He goes on to stress: "It is important to note that the nature of bilateral relations between Turkey and Greece has changed, thanks to ongoing normalization efforts. It is safe to say that Turkey-Greece relations are now a foreign policy issue rather than a geopolitical one. The latter was the decisive force in Turkey-Greece relations in recent years, before the February earthquakes in Turkey."
And given that Turkish industry has now received orders for the mass production of heavy-duty AKYA torpedoes and ATMACA anti-ship missiles, should we not assume that we are facing events that we would not want to describe as "fait accompli"?
The conclusions are yours...
