Turkish DM announces on eve of European Council meeting that illegal surveying in East Med will begin

Turkey's so-called Defense Minister said his country will continue their illegal seismic surveys and drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean just mere hours before the European Council will convene its meeting tonight on imposing sanctions against Ankara.

Hulusi Akar then had the audacity to blame Greece for tensions in the region, despite this new announcement of illegal activity in the areas around Greece and Cyprus.

Speaking at the Turkish parliament, the minister said that the research and drilling vessels will be escorted by the Air Force and Navy ships will be supported by Air Force and Navy forces.

“We have no aspirations for anyone's rights. But we will not allow our rights to be violated,” he said.

“Greece is the one that wants to raise tensions in Mediterranean,” he said in parliament.

"We, on the other hand, have continued to support the exploratory and confidence-building meetings and additional initiatives taken by the NATO Secretary-General from the very beginning", he added.

He continued his lies by saying "Clearly, we do not want an accident or an incident at sea, let alone a confrontation", while sending warships into Greece's maritime space.

Unfortunately for Turkey, in August its flagship Kemal Reis attempted to collide into the Greek Limnos frigate, but was instead outmaneveured by superior Greek sailors and sustained a major hole.

The Kemal Reis was again humiliated just says ago, this time by the Egyptian navy, as previously reported by Greek City Times.