In eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish natural gas research ship "Oruç Reis", accompanied by five frigates of the Turkish army, is cruising in Greek territorial waters. Just last week one of the warships had rammed a Greek frigate. Fortunately, no catastrophe had occurred. Under threats of sanctions, the EU had demanded that Turkey end its deployment in the eastern Mediterranean.

Instead of reacting to the restrained threats, the Turkish government is now extending the deployment of the "Oruç Reis" until August 27. The ship was actually only supposed to remain in the region until August 23. But Turkey is counting on escalation in eastern Mediterranean and is not willing to compromise. This is above all a signal to the inside to distract Turkish society from the catastrophic situation and to unite it with Great Ottoman sabre rattling. Whether the EU will react remains questionable.

Propaganda feint in the Black Sea

The "good news" of newly discovered gas fields in the Black Sea also turned out to be more of a propaganda punch line. The fields are only a fraction of the size announced by the AKP government. Erdoğan had declared: "The God has opened a door of unprecedented wealth for us" and sold fields that had been already known in 2004 as "new discoveries". Analysts see this announcement of Erdoğan as an attempt to finally push through his controversial large-scale project "Canal Istanbul", which is now needed for tanker traffic.

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