Cyprus Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides told the Cyprus News Agency on Tuesday that the illegal seismic surveys of Turkey within a maritime area for which an illegal NAVTEX has been issued by Ankara and which is extended within the Greek continental shelf and part of the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone constitute a blatant violation of the sovereign rights of both Cyprus and Greece.
He also noted that these actions, along with the intense militarisation of the region which Ankara has been instigating and promoting, seriously jeopardise the stability and security in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Christodoulides who was invited to comment on the fact that Turkish research vessel Oruc Reis has entered the Greek continental shelf, said that there is a serious escalation of the Turkish illegal activities in the Eastern Mediterranean just a few days after new illegal seismic surveys by Turkish vessel Barbaros began at the Eastern side of Cyprus, within a lawfully delimited area, and just after the signing of the Delimitation Agreement between Greece and Egypt.
“Unfortunately, once again Turkey chooses the route of unilateral illegal actions, turning its back in a provocative way on the prospect for dialogue on the basis of the international law and the principles of good neighbourly relations,” he added.
Moreover, Christodoulides said that “all of these actions against two EU member states have to be taken into consideration while assessing the EU-Turkey relations and the measures that will be collectively taken, as decided during the recent EU Foreign Affairs Council.
