Page 13 - MEOG Week 41

MEOG POLICY MEOG

France warns Turkey as vessel

returns to Greek waters

TURKEY FRANCE said on October 12 that Turkey should give Turkey another chance, until December, to
refrain from new provocations and show good change its approach to the dispute.
faith after Ankara announced that it was send- “Turkey has proven it lacks credibility. All
ing a hydrocarbons exploration seismic research those who believed Turkey meant all it said
vessel back into eastern Mediterranean waters before the European summit of October 1-2 now
claimed by Greece. stand corrected,” Greek government spokesman
“We expect Turkey to meet its commitments, Stelios Petsas said.
abstain from new provocations and show con- Defence Minister Hulusi Akar claimed that
crete evidence of good faith,” French Foreign Ankara’s planned operations were within its
Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll continental shelf. “They [Greece] are doing
said. everything to escalate tensions,” Akar said. “The
The announcement of the plans of the vessel, Navy will provide the necessary escort and pro-
the Oruc Reis, prompted Greece to issue a furi- tection to our vessels as needed.”
ous new demand for European Union sanctions In a phone call on October 12, Turkish Pres-
on Turkey. Greece’s foreign ministry described ident Tayyip Erdogan told European Council
the new voyage as a “major escalation” and a President Charles Michel that progress was
“direct threat to peace in the region”. Turkey in required to improve ties between Ankara and
return accused Athens of fuelling tensions. the bloc. “President Erdogan, who stated that
The Oruc Reis intends to carry out work Greece was continuing steps to escalate tensions
south of the Greek island of Kastellorizo, close to in the eastern Mediterranean despite Turkey’s
Turkey’s coast. Ankara had withdrawn the vessel well-intentioned approach, said he expected
from contested waters in the eastern Mediterra- concrete steps from the EU to realise an Eastern
nean last month to “allow for diplomacy” before Mediterranean conference [on issues including
an EU summit. At that summit, Cyprus sought the maritime rights] proposed by Turkey,” the
sanctions against Turkey, but the EU opted to Turkish presidency said in a statement.™

Tehran to decommission

polluting oil plants

IRAN AN electricity company official in Tehran has said: “Despite the low efficiency of three old
announced plans to decommission old polluting power plants of Tehran, they should operate in
power plants as part of energy-efficiencies drives the summer due to the high electricity consump-
across the country, ILNA reported on October tion, and to prevent the possible blackouts dur-
11. Much of the electricity and power infrastruc- ing the peak period, but now we plan to replace
ture in Iran dates back to before the 1979 revolu- these power plants.”
tion, where previous to ejected from the country The first power station in the capital ear-
large American companies like General Electric marked for closure is Rey, which authorities say
helped create the industry in conjunction with needs to be shut down in December this year, as
the former Pahlavi monarchy. the city continues to suffer from temperature-in-
Since then the Islamic Republic has contin- duced heavy pollution or the “inversion effect”,
ued to operate much of that infrastructure had to of which Rey power plant contributes a signifi-
fabricate parts locally as US sanctions have made cant portion sitting within the boundaries of the
it impossible to continue import replacement capital.
equipment and parts. He also announced that at the first step, the
According to the Thermal Power Plants replacement operation of Tarasht power plant
Holding Company (TPPH), the programme to will be conducted soon.
decommission the old power stations of Arasht, Removing the three plants will take up to
Rey, and Be’sat are now earmarked for shutting three years the official added and 60 megawatts
down over the next few years. (Mw) of power will be removed from the power
TPPH Managing Director Mohsen Tarztalab grid when they shut down.™

Week 41 14•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13