Turkey vowed to continue searching for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Tuesday, saying it was set to issue new exploration licenses for the contested area despite international pressure over its escalating dispute with Greece over drilling rights.

In response, Greece's foreign minister called for an emergency meeting of the European Union's Foreign Affairs Council "on the subject of the growing Turkish provocation and delinquency."

Tensions have increased between Athens and Ankara this week after Turkey sent its Oruc Reis research vessel to carry out exploratory drilling in the contested waters in the eastern Mediterranean on Monday. 

Ankara says the move was in response to a new deal between Greece and Egypt for the countries' exclusive economic zones for extraction rights in the disputed area. Both Athens and Ankara have sent warships to shadow the Turkish research vessel, risking a new military stand-off between the two NATO allies. 

Read more: Turkey restarts drilling in the Mediterranean Sea, stoking tensions with Greece

 

Turkey defiant

 

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on Tuesday called on Turkey "to immediately withdraw from the Greek continental shelf ... we make clear that Greece will defend its sovereignty and its sovereign rights."

Dendias said he had called for the EU's foreign ministers to meet "at a time when there is a clear Turkish threat to peace and security in the eastern Mediterranean, Greece and Cyprus."

Earlier in the day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara planned to conduct search operations "on the western edges" of Turkey's continental shelf.

"We are fully determined to continue our seismic research and drilling efforts," Cavusoglu said during a conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart in Turkey. 

"We will defend to the end the rights of Turkey and of Turkish Cypriots in the eastern Mediterranean and in Cyprus, and we will make no concessions."

Read more: Why are tensions rising between Greece and Turkey in the Mediterranean?

 

 

Renewed drilling

 

Turkey's Oruc Reis research vessel, escorted by Turkish warships, arrived in the Mediterranean Sea between Cyprus and Greece on Monday and is set to be in exploratory hydrocarbon operation until 23 August. 

Athens has strongly condemned what they consider an incursion into their own waters and its exclusive economic zone, sending warships into the area to monitor the Oruc Reis, and putting the military on alert.

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said from Brussels that member states would consider Greece's call for an extraordinary meeting of the EU's foreign ministers.

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“We agree that the situation in the eastern Mediterranean is extremely worrying and needs to be solved in dialogue and not in a series and sequence of steps that are increasing the escalation and the tension,” Stano said.

Omer Celik, the spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling party, hit out at Athens for the request.

“As usual, Greece has called the European Union to a meeting to support its unfair, unlawful and aggressive policies," Celik said on Twitter. 

"The European Union should not allow Greece to turn the whole of Europe into a ‘Greek theater.’”

 

 

Historic divide

 

The recent flare-up follows last month's hiatus in Turkish exploratory drilling in the eastern Mediterranean, seen as a deescalation of the dispute between the two countries following two-and-a-half months of talks in Berlin. 

However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said during a statement on CNN-Turk television, that "the moment the agreement with Egypt was announced, we received a clear instruction from our president: 'You are halting the talks. Inform the Germans and the Greeks, we are not pressing ahead with the negotiations.'" 

There have been decades of differences between Ankara and Athens over maritime boundaries in the area, with the two nations coming to the brink of war three times since the mid-1970s. The discovery of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean at the turn of the century has further stoked the flames between the NATO members.

Read more: Turkey's Erdogan attends first prayers at Hagia Sophia since mosque conversion

Last year, Turkey signed a deal with the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoli delineating an exclusive economic zone between their waters, which Greece, along with Cyprus and Egypt, criticized, saying it infringed on their economic rights in the waters.

However, the move from Ankara was seen, in part, as a last-ditch response to being cut out of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), a body convened by Israel, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, the State of Palestine and Italy that was set up to make the states and nations the main providers of natural gas to Europe. Turkey was not given a seat at the table.

At the root of the dispute is how each country measures its continental shelf, and whether islands should be included in the calculation. Turkey, in contradiction to prevailing international consensus, argues they should not.