Turkey to send second drillship

''The Mediterranean is not a lake of the father of anyone'', said Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, who announced that a second drillship the Yavuz (Deep Sea Metro 1) will follow the Fatih which is currently located about 70km west of Cyprus.

In an interview with CNN Turk, the Turkish Minister said that almost all countries in the Eastern Mediterranean have increased hydrocarbon search activities.

"Turkey, following a different path, must go into this process. We started our own drilling process with our own ships, our own engineers, our own specialists, with our team of efficient people. And the Mediterranean is not a lake of the father of anyone. We have territorial waters there. The 'TRNC' has territorial waters, there is a 'state' there. Turkey has shown strong will for northern Cyprus. We must give this fight for our own territorial waters to the end. Fatih has been mobilized and our drillship Yavuz will be mobilized these days. Based on the scientific realities, I say very clearly, in Turkey in 2020 we will hear very pleasant news on oil and gas, on land and sea. I want this to be known by our 82 million citizens,'' said Albayrak.

Asked whether Turkey will speak with Israel and Egypt about the tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish Minister said that Turkey has followed a very independent policy for the past 17 years and aleady had this communication. 

"Today in the Middle East we have said that there is no reason not to be in a win-win situation with all those concerned. No energy investment in which Turkey does not participate is viable, "he said.

According to Marinetraffic Yavuz is currently located near Istanbul.