During his speech at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Turkey’s vice president, Fuat Oktay, announced that a new drilling rig is set to begin operations in the Eastern Mediterranean next month.
“We are resolutely defending our rights, as well as the rights and interests of our Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters in the Eastern Mediterranean against any provocation and illegal actions,” he said.
“Hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean are not only a Greek Cypriot game.”
Mr Oktay claimed that the city of “Varosha is the territory of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.’ They [the Greeks] should know that” making further comments on the restrictions that the US might place on the sale of F-16 fighter jets.
Furthermore, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his dismay against those in the US House of Representatives and said that “when we discussed these issues with [US President] Mr Biden, he did not put such a condition concerning Greece”.
“On the contrary, in our long meeting, we talked about the fact that as NATO member countries we should protect each other’s rights. We will make every effort regarding the F16s.”
“We will see what the November midterm elections will bring. There are indications that the Republicans will have more clout in the Senate and will again have more clout in the House of Representatives,” he added
