ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey said it will maintain army training in northwestern Cyprus for the next two weeks amid increasing tension with Greece over disputed exploration rights claims in the Mediterranean.
The long-running dispute between Turkey and Greece, both NATO members, erupted after the two countries reached rival agreements on their maritime borders with Libya and Egypt, and Turkey sent a shipment to disputed waters this month.
The two sides conducted army training in the eastern Mediterranean, underlining the option that the dispute over the extension of their continental plateaus can become a confrontation.
Two weeks ago, Greek and Turkish frigates watching the clash of Turkish oil and fuel exploration ship Oruc Reis, and Turkish Ministry of Defense said Thursday that the Turkish F-16 aircraft had prevented six Greek F-16s from entering a domain where Turkey operates.
On Friday night, Turkey issued a Navtex advisory, a warning message to sailors, saying it would conduct a “shooting exercise” from Saturday to September 11 off northwest Cyprus.
The European Union’s most sensible diplomat said Friday that the bloc is preparing sanctions against Turkey that could be discussed at a summit last September in reaction to Ankara’s clash with EU member Greece.
Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay criticized imaginable measures that can target only people, ships or the use of European ports to restrict Ankara’s exploration capabilities.
“It is not honest that the EU calls for discussion on the one hand and makes other plans on the other, in relation to the activities we are carrying out on our own continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean,” he said on Twitter.
(Report via Dominic Evans; Edited through Alex Richardson and Andrew Heavens)
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