Cyprus Cries Foul as Turkish Vessel Enters Waters

Cyprus on Monday accused Turkey of taking "provocative and illegal" action by sending a survey boat to an area where the Cypriot government has licensed exploratory drilling for oil and gas.

Defense Minister Chistoforos Fokaides said the vessel was being closely monitored and that Nicosia would examine "its response to defend its rights and sovereignty".

Nicosia is unhappy that Ankara is determined to search for oil and gas in the same region where the Cypriot government has already licensed exploratory drills in an exclusive economic zone.

Turkish troops invaded and occupied the northern third of Cyprus in 1974 in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting it with Greece.

Ankara opposes the Cypriot government's exploitation of offshore energy reserves before a deal is reached to solve the decades-long division of the east Mediterranean island.

Earlier this month Cyprus suspended its participation in UN-led peace talks launched in February, during which Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades was to meet Turkish Cypriot counterpart Dervis Eroglu.

Government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides told journalists a Turkish survey vessel, named Barbaros, had encroached 10 nautical miles inside the Bloc 3 area of Cyprus's exclusive economic zone, off the island's southeastern coast at Cape Greco.

Ankara had issued a notice that a Turkish seismic vessel would carry out a survey from mid-October to December 30 in the same area where the Italian-Korean energy consortium ENI-Kogas is operating.

The vessel's crew "didn't start seismic research," Christodoulides said.

Anastasiades on Monday chaired an emergency meeting of political leaders to discuss how Cyprus should respond to the Turkish action.

Christodoulides said the meeting would continue on Tuesday from 0800 GMT with the aim of adopting "specific measures".

"At present, we're examining political, diplomatic and legal measures," he said, refusing to elaborate.

"It's a violation of (our) sovereignty," he said.

Turkey "is taking advantage of the situation in Iraq," Christodoulides said, suggesting that Ankara was trying to leverage its role in the battle against the Islamic State group to push the envelope with Cyprus.

Asked about the risk of escalation, he said only: "There is always a possibility."

Nicosia has licensed exploratory drills for oil and gas in the zone. Ankara does not recognise the zone and demands that Turkish Cypriots share natural resources.

The movement of the Barbaros and accompanying ships -- two support vessels and a Turkish navy frigate -- are "provocative and illegal," Fokaides told state radio.

Nicosia is "now obliged to escalate its response to defend it rights and sovereignty," he said.

"We have already studied alternative scenarios. This move by Turkey was one of the scenarios that we studied, we are not surprised that it carried through on its threat," Fokaides said.