Turkey will not allow other countries to drill for gas in Turkish or northern Cyprus waters in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Sunday, as both Turkey and Cyprus are getting ready to drill in the area where the countries have overlapping claims of maritime territories. “We will not accept attempts to extract natural resources in our country, Cyprus or in the eastern Mediterranean,” Reuters quoted Erdogan as saying on Sunday, days after Turkey sent a ship to begin drilling for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey, which recognizes the northern Turkish Cypriot government and doesn’t have diplomatic relations with the internationally recognized government of Cyprus, claims that part of the Cyprus offshore area falls under the jurisdiction of Turkish Cypriots or Turkey. Countries that believed they could operate in the Aegean Sea or in the eastern Mediterranean without Turkey’s consent are mistaken, […]