Turkish survey ship Oruc Reis re-enters Greek waters

The Turkish research ship Oruc Reis with its two auxiliary vessels Ataman and Cengiz Han, accompanied by a naval force of Turkish warships, is moving west again, towards the Greek continental shelf.

On Wednesday afternoon, at approximately 19:20, the Oruc Reis exited the Greek continental shelf and entered the Cypriot EEZ.

At dawn today, it re-entered the Greek continental shelf leaving Cypriot waters with the fleet of Turkish warships, continuing to sail around in the region where Turkey said it would be conducting seismic surveys not in the Greek continental shelf but in international waters.

The Greek Ministry of National Defence is certain that the Oruc Reis does not have the ability to conduct seismic surveys. Although in of the photos released by the Turks and showing the Oruc Reis accompanied by five warships in formation shows a cable at sea, officials in Athens argue that the proximity to other Turkish warships in combination with the noise created by the simultaneous operation of the main engines by so many vessels does not allow the Turkish ship to carry out seismic surveys.