Mediterranean Turkey hardens positions contrary to Cyprus

Contrary to the criteria of the government in Nicosia, Erdogan endorsed the legitimacy of Turkish ships inroads in exploration of gas and oil off Cyprus. For this purpose the president held out to the disputed area of the research vessel Piri Reis, the which is interpreted as a response from Ankara to the operation initiated by the Greek Cypriot government, mediated by the U.S. company Noble Energy.

Erdogan justified these measures to protect commercial interests and their rights, said the natural resources of the Mediterranean Sea . Turkey also revealed the intentions of reaching the waters surrounding the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. We will put into action all that our national interests require no doubt, told media in a harsh rhetoric Greco-authorities Cypriot administration shared with the Turkish Cypriots in the north, on an island divided since 1974, under the influence of Greece and Turkey, on the other. The ship escorted by the Turkish Navy was located 60 kilometers from the drilling platform, controlled by the Greek Cypriots to begin gas exploration work offshore, according to the newspaper Hürriyet Daily News.

Military sources in Cyprus, recognized as a state by the United Nations and European Union membership, they saw the ship a little more 90 kilometers of the block where the company works Noble Energy. The Ankara Daily reported a telephone conversation between Erdogan and his Greek counterpart George Papandreou, during which they agreed to promote a relaxation solution to the territorial dispute over three decades, to allow the reunification of the Mediterranean island. Only Turkey recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, established unilaterally in this part of the territory, following the occupation of the Ottoman army in 1974.