Turkey extends research vessel mission for gas hunt

Turkey has extended once again a research ship's search for gas in contested waters of the eastern Mediterranean in defiance of calls from the West to pull back the vessel. The navy said in a message on the international maritime alert system NAVTEX late Saturday that the Oruc Reis would stay in the region until November 4.  In a counter-message on NAVTEX, Greece deemed the Turkish activity as "unauthorised and illegal, in an area that overlaps the Greek continental shelf." The Oruc Reis, escorted by military ships, has become the symbol of Ankara's quest for natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean, where recent discoveries have triggered a rush for the resource.