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Turkey Launches Ship to SupportOffshore Energy Exploration

Turkey commits resources, including dedicated naval vessels, to preserve and protect its rights in its exclusive economic zone in the Eastern Mediterranean, writes Tulin Daloglu.
The Leiv Eiriksson, an oil drilling platform, is escorted by tugboats as it enters the Bosphorus in Istanbul December 31, 2009. The deep-water platform, one of the world's largest drilling rigs, passed through the Bosphorus Strait as it entered the Black Sea where Turkey and Brazil will carry out joint oil explorations. In April, state-owned petroleum companies, Turkey's TPAO and Brazil's Petrobras, signed an agreement to search for oil in the Black Sea.  REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: ENERGY TRANSPORT

With the discovery of hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean bringing Turkey’s old and new rivalries together, the Ankara government is taking slow but steady steps toward a comeuppance for them. Only time will tell whether the effort will yield productive results.

On Feb. 17, Turkey launched the Tubitak Marmara, its first domestically produced oil-exploration vessel, some two weeks after the Barbaros Hayrettin, a newly purchased 3-D seismic exploration vessel, docked at Istanbul, on Feb. 1.

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