Free Republic

As Europe seeks to diversify its sources of natural gas as an alternative to the politically sensitive Russian supply, a massive off-shore gas source in the Mediterranean is ready for exploration and drilling. There are game-changing stakes at play. Unfortunately, the Turkish leadership has threatened to use force to stop this from happening. Last October, Turkey sent the BARBAROS, its geophysics exploration ship, accompanied by naval vessels, into the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone waters. In November 2014, Turkish naval commander Admiral Bülent Bostanoğlu threatened the use of force against Greece, while speaking on board a Turkish naval corvette in Greek...

New gas fields add more heat to already simmering Mediterranean CAIRO — Some observers speculate that gas exploration activities in the Mediterranean will create a new axis of conflict in the region. The conflict over gas reserves in the Mediterranean has pushed Cairo to rush to find solutions to the demarcation of the overlapping maritime border between Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus. Summary The recent gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have given the concerned countries, mainly Egypt, Turkey and Israel, a new urgency in settling their maritime border disputes. Author Walaa Hussein...