Turkish VP: We will destroy their plans in the Eastern Mediterranean

"There are games against us that aim to disable us from putting our feet in the water, not be able to throw fishing lines. We are there to destroy them," Oktay told the Turkish news agency Anadolu, in an indirect reference to EastMed, claiming that Ankara disrupted the game in the Mediterranean. ""No matter who is involved, no plan in the region which excludes Turkey has any chance of success," he stressed.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, the Turkish vice president in his interview emphasized that they had found that Turkey was gradually encircled in the eastern Mediterranean. “We saw this and we took our measures accordingly. We proceeded to dismantle this game, especially with the EEZ agreement signed with Libya. We managed to get away with it, " he said. The Turkish vice-president said they "thwarted their plans" by sending the Fatih and Yavuz drilling rigs as well as the Barbaros research vessel to the area.

"There is a map that Greece is bringing to the agenda recently. Step by step ... They think that Turkey is only hinterland, Turkey is not only the hinterland, Turkey is a country that is watching the developments minute by minute, both inland and abroad, but also with its neighbors. So we watched the developments very carefully, and we continue to do so. We said we would not allow these. But as we say this, we add that, whatever the outcome. We have experienced this in the past. If there is a risk, we will take it, we will do whatever it takes, " he said. Fuat Oktay has argued that no project can succeed in the region without Turkey.