According to a statement by the Greek Foreign Ministry late on Tuesday concerning the note verbale sent by Turkey said that Ankara disputes the rights of some Greek islands to have a continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone in violation of what it says is Article 121 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“It challenges the right of the Greek islands to a continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, in violation of article 121 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea, which is – in accordance with international jurisprudence and customary international law, and thus necessarily – binding for all countries in the international community,” the statement said.

“The Greek government, as in its recent efforts, will continue to safeguard all of the country’s sovereign rights deriving from international law.”

The Greek government submitted a verbale note to the United Nations on 20 February 2013 arguing that the areas Turkey had granted exploration permits in the Mediterranean were deemed to fall within the Greek continental shelf.

In an announcement issued a day later, Ankara stressed that the licenses that Turkey has given to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) since 2007 are within the boundaries of the Turkish continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean.

In an interview published in Sunday’s Kathimerini on March 10, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos said concerning Turkey’s hypothetical attempt to explore Greek continental shelf that:

“It will be good if things don’t go that far. Unilateral moves outside the framework of international law have shown not to help, and they should be avoided.”

The equipment has now been delivered to the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) facility in Ankara, the Turkish news website Today’s Zaman reported on Sunday.

Israel’s Defense Ministry has refused to comment concerning the deal.

Turkey acquired four Boeing 737 passenger aircraft from Boeing, which were converted into AWACS alert and intelligence aircraft worth $200 million.  The Turkish newspaper Zaman reported that Israel transferred two systems to Turkey before the relations between both countries were strained in 2010. Israel recently transferred the remaining systems to the Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI), and these will be installed soon.

According to a defense source quoted by Reuters, Boeing intervened in the relations between the countries and brought Elta to meet the terms of the agreement and complete the delivery.

On May 31, 2010 the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) boarded the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in a flotilla aimed at breaking Israel’s siege on Gaza in May 2010, leaving nine pro-Palestinian activists dead.

Turkey, which in the past was very friendly with Israel, has elected a government with an increasingly worsening stance toward Israel, as well as increasing support for Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists.

Turkey demanded a formal apology but Israel refused to make a formal apology and pay conpensation to families of the dead. As a result, expelled Jerusalem’s ambassador from Ankara. Diplomatic ties were severely downgraded, and have remained impaired ever since.

Meanwhile, Turkish officials say they have confiscated “objectionable cargo” from a the Syrian passenger jet intercepted en route from Moscow to Damascus.

“There is illegal cargo on the plane that should have been reported” in line with civil aviation regulations, Davutoglu was quoted as saying by Anatolia.

“There are elements on board that can be considered objectionable,” he said, adding that Turkey would hold on to the cargo for further examination without giving any further details regarding the content.

The confiscated cargo was initially believed to be military equipment , while state-run TRT said it was believed to be communications devices used for military purposes.

The plane was allowed to leave eight hours after it was intercepted, with all of its 30 passengers on board, according to Hurriyet daily.

This incident marks further deterioration between Turkey and Syria . Last week, a Syrian shell hit the border town of Akçakale, killing five civilians. The deadly incident triggered retaliation fire from Turkish artillery units at the border. The Turkish army also warned earlier Wednesday of a stronger response if Syrian shells continued to land on Turkish soil.

Relations between Ankara and Damascus have been dramatically strained since June, when a Turkish jet was brought down by Syrian fire, killing its two pilots onboard.

Russia, from where the Syrian plane took off, is one of the closest allies of Bashar al-Assad’s government and has blocked UN resolutions against Damascus.

Meanwhile, battles between government troops and opposition fighters continued across Syria on Wednesday.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, urged the Assad administration to declare a unilateral ceasefire, calls which Syria rejected insisting that rebels must stop the violence first.

Jihad Makdissi, Syrian foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Wednesday that twice during the abortive UN military observer mission deployed to Syria between April and the end of August, the government had implemented a ceasefire.

The number of unemployed young people in Turkey stands at about 18 percent, above the world average. And unemployment among the young has long-term negatives, both for a person’s health and happiness, but also for a country’s prosperity and social cohesion. Unemployment can mean lower lifetime earnings and increased physical and mental illness in later life. It also reduces productivity and economic growth, and it can lead to increased social unrest and even violence and crime.

But for every one of these students practicing their craft on a Tuesday evening, there is a job waiting.

“I’ve had 150 students go through this programme, and of them, 150 are employed. And this is all thanks to the proper training,” says Ugur Kolay, the teacher there.

This 400 hour class is part of Turkey’s national job agency training program, called ISKUR. ISKUR offers training classes in 500 professions—everything from hair styling to computers, child care to ship building. One of the most lucrative is underwater construction, sinking pilings for bridges and other projects.

But most trainees stay on dry land, like Makbule Simsek, one of two women in the machine tools class. “I’ve learned software and I’ve learned machines, from here I can go on and find many different jobs, “she says.

Her fellow student Soner Baser also feels optimistic about the job market, saying, “I can work anywhere, but if I hadn’t taken this program, I’d have jobs, but I wouldn’t have a career. Now I can have a career.”

About a quarter of million people go through ISKUR’s training programme every year. About 60 percent of those get hired on as permanent employees. The demand from employers is moving away from service work toward industrial jobs.

Most trainees, ISKUR’s Abdulkadir Yanici says, want office jobs. But the more demanding technical jobs are where the growth is. “Even graduates of vocational schools can’t find jobs, so we bring them up to current standards by providing special training. We adjust their skills to the needs of the market,” he says.

With support from the World Bank, Turkey is assessing the success of the training programme. Fewer than half of the working-age population is employed—and only about a quarter of working-age women, the lowest among Turkey’s peer countries. If they can prove their training helps people get jobs, ISKUR officials hope, the government will expand it.

Currently, about twice as many people apply for ISKUR training as get in. ISKUR officials hope that, if the assessment proves their training helps people get jobs, the government will expand it.

Cumhuriyet newspaper quoted Assad as saying: “We learned that it (the plane) belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 percent ‘if only we had not shot it down’.

“The plane was flying in an air corridor used three times in the past by the Israeli airforce,” he told Cumhuriyet in an interview published on Tuesday.

“Of course I might have been happy if this had been an Israeli plane,” Assad said.

He added that “We will not allow (the tensions) to turn into open combat between the two countries.

He also said Syria had not amassed and would not amass military forces along the Turkish border, whatever action Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s government takes.

Turkey hasdeployed military hardware along its southern border since Syria shot down the Turkish jet on June 22, escalating tensions between the two countries.

Syria says it shot down the Turkish jet in self-defense and that it was brought down in Syrian air space.

But Turkey says that although the jet had violated Syria’s airspace, it was in international airspace when it was shot down.

Erdogan said Syria shot down the unarmed plane in international airspace in a “hostile” act and without warning.

Assad sent his condolences to the families of the two pilots of the downed plane, who have not been found.

“If this plane had been shot down in international airspace (as maintained by Ankara) we would not have hesitated to apologise,” he said.