Half the Turkish fleet near Cyprus

Ankara is retaliating against Nicosia, for the Cypriot government's decision to proceed with the extraction of natural gas, by placing half of its fleet in the region between the Turkish coast and that of Israel, while carrying out research in the wider region of Eastern Mediterranean.

However, it is doubtful whether the aggressive rhetoric of the Turkish government can produce measurable results for Tayyip Erdogan and his neo-Ottoman politics.

As announced by Taner Yildiz, the energy minister of Turkey, Turkish vessel "Piri Reis" will commence research in the area of Cyprus on Friday. But this is more of a move to impress, since serious research to identify hydrocarbons requires systematic preparation for years.

Meanwhile, the Turkish research vessel Selena is doing research in the area between Rhodes and Kos - within our territorial waters - and a flotilla of four Norwegian research vessels chartered by Ankara are carrying out work off the Gulf of Antalya.

Blatantly, the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet wrote that the Turkish research vessel may be accompanied by units of the Turkish navy in an attempt to pull of a show of strength.

Moreover, Erdogan said it is madness to launch research in Cyprus and Israel within the subsoil of the Cypriot and Israeli continental shelf.

Numerous warships of the Turkish fleet have created an imaginary circle at a radius of 50 nautical miles around the «Homer Ferrington» rig and continue to do exercises covered by Turkish fighter planes. The intention of the Turkish government is to continue for several days, perhaps weeks, a fact revealed by the existence of an oil tanker in the Turkish armada.

Besides, it will take about two months until the driller of "Noble Energy", which has a research contract with the Cypriot government, reaches a depth of 5.800 meters below the seabed to determine the quantity and quality of hydrocarbon resources.

Ankara’s delinquent and erratic behavior is also endangering the air traffic in the region. On Thursday, two Turkish fighter planes approached a Cypriot civilian aircraft flying from Larnaca to London.