Cyprus Government Spokesman Nicos Christodoulides has said that Cyprus “is not in a weakened position” against Turkey, and there are ways to react decisively to “Ankara’s provocative actions in violating the Republics’ sovereign rights.”
Interviewed on Greek radio station “Skai”, he said that “Nicosia obviously cannot agree to the opening of any new chapters, under the current circumstances”, referring to the ongoing negotiations for Turkey to become a full member of the European Union.
Turkey has recently announced its decision to illegally interfere in the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cyprus. The Turkish scientific ship Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa, accompanied by two other support vessels, will carry out a seismic survey from 20 October to 30 December 2014 in the southern sea of Cyprus and more specifically in blocks 1, 2, 3, 8 and 9 of the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cyprus. For that purpose, Turkey has already issued a navigational telex directive, through which it designated certain areas of the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cyprus as reserved.
The President of Cyprus has suspended his participation in the UN-led intercommunal talks for a solution to the island’s longstanding issue, stating that “we cannot talk under threat” from a country, namely Turkey, “that does not respect and does not abide by International Laws and Treaties”.
In his interview, the spokesman noted that Ankara’s “provocative behavior” within internationally recognized waters of the Cyprus Republic could be explained by the fact that Turkey wants to take advantage of its possible participation in the International Alliance operations against the Islamic State, so that she could be “at the epicenter of attention”, and possibly “capitalize on this” in order to divert international attention away from its “actions in Cyprus”, or “even gaining some sympathetic support for them”.
This “possible explanation” also expressed last week in Athens by Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kassoulides, after a meeting with his Greek counterpart, Evangelos Venizelos.
Finally, in his “Skai” interview Christodoulides said that Turkey is not on good terms with many countries in the “general Middle East area”, whereas Cyprus “is constantly improving its relations with neighboring states”.
