ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that he would announce the size of new gas reserves off the Black Sea this week while visiting the Turkish drilling ship “Fatih”.
“I will visit our drilling ship Fatih on Saturday to witness the work in person and announce the size of the new reserves,” Erdogan said while addressing his lawmakers at the parliament.
Ankara has already announced 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the Sakarya Gas Field in the Black Sea.
Erdogan said Turkey also dispatched “Kanuni” vessel to the Black Sea, noting that “it is also expected to bring good news about the reserves” in the region.
The tensions between Turkey and Greece were about to calm down over plans to resume exploratory talks for the disputed areas, but mounted again this week as Ankara announced that its vessel would carry out new seismic research activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, Edit Hason, an Istanbul resident, used to meet in the city with her friends from other provinces across the country for the grand opening of the Istanbul Film Festival each year.
“We used to buy tickets to dozens of movies, attend premieres and small talk sessions with world-famous directors, and join all the festival events,” Hason told media at a movie theater in Istanbul’s upscale Nisantasi neighborhood.
“Those old days, joy, festive scent are all gone now,” she said after showing her QR code to the door attendant before the screening of Muhammed Ali, a National Documentary Competition candidate.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival, one of the most distinguished cultural events in the city, adopted a hybrid model this year, offering some movies online and others in only two screening rooms, one in the European side and the other in the Asian part.
Hason this year bought only seven tickets, less than half the number last year because she was concerned about the pandemic.
“It is better than nothing,” she murmured while taking her seat in the room after passing all the COVID-19 related checks.
Kerem Ayan, director of the Istanbul Film Festival, was happy about the sales and the interest of people even amid the pandemic.
“So far, it goes well,” he said. “We see about 40 percent of capacity, which is wonderful in this period. And the online version of the festival is also doing very well.”
By Tuesday, the fourth day of the festival, which would go until Oct. 20, 20,000 tickets were sold for the online versions of the movies and 5,000 tickets for the ones in the screening rooms.
“Of course, we are far behind the previous 100,000 ticket sales of the last year,” he said.
For Ayan, the festive spirit used to dominate the atmosphere of the city is missing this year. “The festival is more than showing films,” he continued. “People get together and meet with others from the industry, directors, actors, and producers, watching movies in screening rooms.”
Due to the precautionary measures, the organization could not invite any guest from abroad for this year’s 39th edition of the festival, except some Turkish filmmakers who were already in the city, the director said.–Agencies
