European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday called on Turkey to end illegal drilling off Cyprus in what Nicosia deems an 'unprecedented escalation.'
“The European Council has strongly condemned these illegal actions. And in light of the new drilling activities by Turkey…I reconfirm that the EU stands united behind you,” said Tusk after meeting Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades.
EU-member Cyprus last week strongly condemned Turkey’s new attempt to illegally conduct drilling operations in the southwest of the island.
Tusk said he was in Nicosia to demonstrate “full solidarity” in the face of Turkey’s continued drilling activities in the waters off the coast of Cyprus.
“I call on Turkey to end these activities as they do not only undermine the recent efforts to resume Cyprus settlement talks, but they also undermine good neighbourly relations between the EU as a whole and Turkey,” said Tusk.
The issue will also be on the agenda of next week’s EU summit.
Nicosia said Turkey has sent the drill ship Yavuz inside block 7 of its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, a zone licensed to Italy’s Eni and France’s Total in an agreement signed last month.
According to the Cyprus government, the area where the Turkish vessel is operating is clearly defined under international law as Cypriot territorial waters.
“These actions constitute an unprecedented escalation of Turkey’s illegal behaviour and the most severe provocation so far,” said Anastasiades on Friday.
“We cannot remain idle. There is a need, dear Donald, for a more concrete response to Turkey’s continued illegal operations. Turkey needs to cease these provocations and stand aside,” he added.
Anastasiades said he was confident that Tusk also believed that “legality ought to prevail over the rule of the jungle” that Turkey “wishes to impose in the Eastern Mediterranean”.
Nicosia has said it will continue its energy search and not yield to “threats or bullying tactics” with more drills scheduled over the next 24 months.
The waters off Cyprus have attracted other international giants such as ExxonMobil and Shell. Sizeable natural gas deposits have been discovered in three areas but have yet to be extracted.
Turkey is opposed to Nicosia’s energy exploration plans and wants a say in the development of hydrocarbons in the region.
Ankara also demands Turkish Cypriots on the divided island have their share of the profits from natural gas but argues a Cyprus solution must be found first.
Cyprus has pushed ahead with exploring for offshore energy resources despite the collapse in 2017 of UN-brokered talks to end the country's decades-long division.
Ankara already earlier this year dispatched two drill ships inside Cyprus’s designated EEZ, the Yavuz left in September only to return in a different area. The other vessel, the Fatih, has been anchored off the island’s west coast since May.
Washington and Brussels have urged Turkey to withdraw the vessels from Cypriot waters, with the EU imposing sanctions on Turkey.
Cyprus aims for gas to start flowing to an LNG facility in Egypt in 2025 via pipeline, generating its first revenue from natural gas.
Turkey has had troops stationed in the country since 1974 when it invaded and occupied its northern third after a coup sponsored by the military junta then ruling Greece.
