Turkey will launch a second drilling vessel on Thursday that will begin natural gas operations near Cyprus at the beginning of July, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez was quoted as saying on Tuesday.



Ankara already has a ship, called Fatih, in the region. Donmez was quoted as saying by state-owned Anadolu agency that the vessel was continuing to drill in a field to the west of Cyprus.



“Our second ship is about to be ready. We will send off our drill ship Yavuz on Thursday,” he said of the second vessel, called Yavuz.



“Those who try to push Turkey out of the energy equation in the eastern Mediterranean are aware that there is no realistic solution without Turkey but they cannot express this,” he added. [Reuters]