UPDATE- 'Turkey to use its rights on Aegean, Cyprus issues'

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey is determined to use its rights based on international law on disputes over Aegean Sea and Cyprus, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.

Speaking to his party's parliamentary group, Erdogan said on the Mediterranean issue that reckless behavior of Greece and Southern Cyprus, with backing of some European states, would threaten them foremost.

"Turkey is determined to use its rights arising from international law in full on disputes over Aegean Sea, Cyprus issue," said Erdogan.

He added: "Turkey will never compromise its interests, neither in Eastern Mediterranean nor in other regions."

He said Ankara will not allow irrelevant countries to gain economic and political dominance in eastern Mediterranean.

On Monday, Turkey started preparatory works for shallow water drilling in the Mediterranean sea off the coast of Mersin in southern Turkey.

On Oct. 30, Turkey's first drilling vessel, Fatih, conducted its first deep drilling in offshore Antalya on the county's southern Mediterranean coast.

Erdogan reiterated his call for dialogue between Russia and Ukraine over a dispute in the Sea of Azov.

"We want the Black Sea to become a peace sea," said Erdogan.

He expressed Turkey's desire to see Russia and Ukraine cooperate amid serious threats in the world.

Russia on Sunday seized three Ukrainian naval ships off Russian-held Crimea in the Sea of Azov.

Russia said the vessels had ignored calls to stop sparking military action.

Russia and Ukraine have been at loggerheads since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea after a controversial referendum.

Turkey, as well as the UN General Assembly, say the annexation was illegal.

Ukraine has also blamed Russia for separatist violence in eastern Ukraine, near the border with Russia.

Erdogan said that Turkey is the one started to overthrow Deash terror group, "which is one of the greatest concerns of Islam."

While everyone sought their interest on Syrian soil using Daesh as an excuse, but we took all the risks, entered the field and struck this terror group down hard," said the president.

As Turkey, we vow to fully eliminate remnants of the Daesh terrorist group in a couple of months," he added.

There is no Daesh in Syria but some small gangs are trained and equipped to create chaos in the country and region under disguise of Daesh, Erdogan said.

More than 300 people have lost their lives in Daesh terror attacks in Turkey, where the terror group targets civilians in suicide bomb, rocket and gun attacks.