Ankara digs in on sea rights

Describing Turkey as a "blue homeland," the country's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar warned on Wednesday that Ankara will not give up on its rights in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.

"We continue our struggle in our blue homeland. We clarify that this concerns the Aegean, the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus and elsewhere. There is also the exclusive economic zone, and this is important," he said in a speech to a conference of Turkish entrepreneurs, adding that "we will defend our rights under international law, good conduct and good neighborliness and we will not give up on any of them."

"We are determined to defend the rights of the Turkish Republic and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and we will not take steps back. We have told this to our counterparts at every opportunity. We have taken all the necessary measures and will continue taking them,"...

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