State media: Turkey to mark out undersea borders

Πηγή: AP
By SELCAN HACAOGLU

Sep. 21 2011

State media say Turkey and Turkish Cypriots have signed an agreement to mark out undersea borders to facilitate oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean.

Wednesday's deal comes after Cyprus began a search for oil and gas near sizable gas finds inside Israeli waters earlier this week despite Turkish warnings that it undermines the rights of Turkish Cypriots.

Turkey's state-run broadcaster, TRT, says Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Dervis Eroglu, the president of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot, state signed the deal in New York.

Erdogan has lashed out at Cyprus and Israel for what he described as their "madness for an oil search" in the Mediterranean, adding that Turkey has sent warships to the area before the deployment of its research ship.