WW3.0

Turkey sends new drill ship to eastern Mediterranean

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara did not need to "seek permission from anyone" to drill in the region. Greece and Cyprus accuse Turkey of illegally exploring for gas deposits in their territory.

The Abdulhamid Han, named after an Ottoman sultan, is set to drill for gas in the eastern Mediterranean

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday inaugurated the country's newest drilling ship that he said would be sent to an area northwest of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean.

The vessel, known as the Abdulhamid Han, is Turkey's largest undersea hydrocarbon drill ship. 

What do we know about the mission?

Erdogan said the ship would begin drilling at the Yorukler-1 well, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) off the coast of Gazipasa, in Turkey's southwestern Antalya province.

The country's other drill ships — Fatih, Kanuni and Yavuz — are operating in the Black Sea where Turkey has discovered natural gas reserves. All four ships are named after Ottoman sultans.

Turkey is almost entirely reliant on imports to meet its energy needs. Rising global energy prices have hindered Erdogan's government from reaching its goal of achieving a budget surplus. Turkey imported around 45% of its natural gas last year from Russia.

Erdogan called the Abdulhamid Han a "symbol of Turkey's new vision in the area of energy."

"The sooner we can increase our natural gas and oil resources, which have turned into weapons in the global economic crisis, the more advantage we will gain in this critical process," Turkey's president said.

"It will help us both reduce our energy dependency and close our current account deficit."

The Abdulhamid Han set off from Antalya and is heading towards an area northwest of Cyprus

'We don't need to seek permission from anyone'

While the area initially designated for the ship is not in disputed waters, Erdogan said the Abdulhamid Han will continue to search for gas until it finds it, potentially leading it to areas claimed by Cyprus.

Turkey and Cyprus have for years been embroiled in a dispute over maritime borders, and the EU has imposed sanctions on Ankara over drilling off the island country.

"Our exploration and drilling in the Mediterranean is within our own sovereign dominion," Erdogan said at the inauguration ceremony.

"Neither the puppets nor the ones who hold their strings will be able to prevent us from getting our rights in the Mediterranean," the Turkish president declared, in an apparent reference to Greece, Cyprus and Western allies.

"We don't need to seek permission or ratification from anyone," Erdogan added. "We will take what is ours."

NATO partner Greece also accuses Turkey of illegally exploring for gas deposits off of Greek islands. The Turkish government rejects the accusations, saying that Greek islands near the Turkish coast should not be used when defining maritime borders.

In 2020, Turkey sent a seismic survey ship escorted by warships to an area in the eastern Mediterranean to which Greece claims exclusive rights. Athens later sent its own warships, and the two countries conducted military exercises in a show of force.

sdi/nm (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters

Turkey's new drill ship to operate outside

disputed waters in Mediterranean

Turkish President Erdogan attends the launch of Turkey's new drill ship Abdul hamid Han

Tue, August 9, 2022 

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkey resumed its hydrocarbon drilling operations in the eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday after a two year hiatus, though President Tayyip Erdogan said its new drill ship would operate outside waters also claimed by Cyprus.

The Abdulhamid Han, Turkey's fourth drill ship, will operate 55 kilometres off the Gazipasa region in the southern coastal province of Antalya, Erdogan said.

"The survey and drilling work we are conducting in the Mediterranean are within our sovereign territory. We do not need to receive permission or consent from anyone for this," he said, speaking at a ceremony to launch the ship in Turkey's coastal Mersin province.

The launch comes at a time when long-running tensions between Turkey and Greece have risen again, with Erdogan accusing Athens of arming islands in the Aegean Sea that have a demilitarised status. Athens rejects this.


Natural gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean in the past decade have made the region a viable alternative energy source for Europe, but also exposed disputes between neighbouring countries in the region over rights to the resources.

A Greek government spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday that Athens is monitoring the situation carefully.

"We need to be vigilant ... We've always been doing what we have to do to have stability in our region and to fully defend international law and our own sovereign rights," spokesperson Giannis Oikonomou said.

Ankara said the 238-metre (780.84 ft) Abdulhamid Han is the largest and the most technologically advanced deep sea drilling ship in its survey and exploration fleet. It can drill down more than 12,000 metres.

Turkey has not sent a drill ship to the eastern Mediterranean since the withdrawal of the Yavuz drill ship from contested waters in September 2020.

The Yavuz, Fatih and Kanuni drill ships have been operating in the Black Sea, where Turkey discovered a natural gas reserve with a volume of 540 billion cubic metres.

Turkey is almost completely reliant on imports to meet its energy needs and rising global energy prices have derailed the government's plan to flip its current account deficit to a surplus.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen, Ezgi Erkoyun and Can Sezer, additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Editing by Louise Heavens and Jane Merriman)