TURKISH-GREEK AEGEAN TENSION ABATES
Turkey"s standoff with Greece over Aegean
oil rights appeared at an end after the government said it had
been assured Athens would not start prospecting in disputed
waters.
    A Foreign Ministry statement last night hinted Turkey was
claiming victory. A Greek-based international consortium, North
Aegean Petroleum Co., Had given up plans to start searching for
oil in international waters east of Thasos island, it said.
    "In the same way it has been understood that Greece will
also not undertake oil activities outside its territorial
waters," the statement added.
    An Ankara Radio report monitored in London said Foreign
Minister Vahit Halefolu had called on Greece to engage in
dialogue over the dispute. It was impossible to resolve the
dispute by crises, he was quoted as saying.
    "We call on Greece to come and engage in a dialogue with us
- let us find a solution as two neighbours and allies should,"
he said.
    The radio said Halefoglu had briefed the leaders of a
number of the country"s political parties on the latest
developments.
    Turkey sent the survey ship Sismik 1 into the Aegean
yesterday, flanked by warships, to press its case but having
earlier said it would go into disputed waters, declared the
vessel would stay in Turkish areas.
    Prime Minister Turgut Ozal, in London on his way home after
heart surgery in the United States, is expected to receive an
ecstatic welcome from thousands of Turks when he returns today.
    He was in defiant mood last night, telling Turkish radio:
"We can never accept that Greece should confine us to the
Anatolian continent. If there are riches under the sea, they
are for mankind."
    Despite the end of the crisis, Turkish officials
acknowledged that the underlying dispute over delimiting the
continental shelf in the Aegean remained unsolved.
    Turkey alleged that the consortium"s plans would have
infringed the 1976 Berne agreement between the two countries,
which called for a moratorium on any activities until the
delimitation was agreed. Greece earlier this month declared it
considers the accord inoperative.
 REUTER
