Athens not concerned by Turkish drillship mission
Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has announced a new mission in the Mediterranean of the Abdulhamid Han drillship, which is the latest addition to the Turkish Petroleum Company’s (TPAO) exploration fleet.
Given that it will operate within an area of Turkish jurisdiction, Athens is not concerned, and it will not affect the Greek-Turkish rapprochement.
Based on the navigational telex issued, the drillship will be moved from the port of Tasucu in southern Turkey to an area in the Mediterranean within the potential Turkish continental shelf until February 6, 2024.
The small area within which it will operate has been scanned in previous years by Turkish research vessels, which have carried out 2D and 3D surveys there.
The previous mission of the Abdulhamid Han took place last summer in a climate of inflammatory rhetoric by Turkish government officials and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself.
