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Turkish PM calls Cyprus, Israel drilling "madness"

World News

21-09-2011 | 07:54

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Turkish PM calls Cyprus, Israel drilling "madness"

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Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan described offshore gas drilling by estranged ally Israel and Cyprus as "madness" on Wednesday, raising the stakes in a confrontation over potentially huge deposits in the eastern Mediterranean.

The quarrel over gas has escalated in recent weeks, just as relations between Turkey and Israel abruptly broke down over Israel's refusal to apologize for a deadly raid on a Turkish flotilla last year.

Israel and the Greek-speaking government of Cyprus are exploring for gas in the eastern Mediterranean, and Israel has laid claim to a massive deep-water gas field discovered in 2009.

Turkey, increasingly assertive in the region under Erdogan, disputes Israeli and Cypriot offshore territorial claims and says Cyprus should not exploit resources until it resolves a stand-off with its breakaway Turkish-speaking north.

-Reuters

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