Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Wednesday accused Greece of failing to fulfill “promises” made during negotiations within the European Union and NATO, and said his country would continue to give Greece “the answer it deserves.”
Erdogan’s comments came days after Ankara redeployed its search vessel, Oruc Reis, for a new energy exploration mission in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean, reigniting tensions with Greece and Cyprus over sea boundaries and exploration rights.
READ MORE: Turkey issues new Navtex in Eastern Mediterranean for Oruc Reis vessel.
Those tensions had flared up over the summer, prompting a military buildup, bellicose rhetoric and fears of a confrontation between the two NATO members and historic regional rivals.
“Our Oruc Reis has returned to its duty in the Mediterranean,” Erdogan told legislators of his ruling party in a speech in parliament.
“We will continue to give the response they deserve on the field, to Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration who have not kept their promises during talks within the EU and NATO platforms.”
He didn’t spell out what the promises were but Turkish officials have been accusing Greek officials of engaging in a series of “provocations,” despite efforts to revive the so-called exploratory talks between the neighbors that were aimed at resolving disputes and were last held in 2016.
READ MORE: Turkey, Greece agree to resume talks after four years.
Greece’s government said, meanwhile, that it wouldn’t take part in planned exploratory talks with Turkey as long as the survey mission was in progress.
“It is impossible to hold talks about a (maritime region) when a survey in that region is underway,” government spokesman, Stelios Petsas, told private Skai television.
During his speech, Erdogan also rebuffed international criticism over Turkey’s move to open the beachfront of Cyprus’ fenced-off suburb of Varosha in divided Cyprus’ breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.
“The fenced-off Varosha region belongs to the Turks of northern Cyprus. This should be known as such,” he said.
Varosha remained off-limits and in Turkish military control after its Greek Cypriot residents fled before advancing troops in 1974 when Turkey invaded and sliced the island along ethnic lines after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
READ MORE: Occupied Cyprus to reopen beach abandoned in no-man’s land since 1974 conflict.
