Athens responds to Ankara – “Unacceptable, provocative threats”

Athens’ responded  in harsh tones to yesterday’s threats launched by Ankara against Greece and Cyprus warning, among other things, that it will intervene in order to prevent any Nicosia effort for drilling inside the Cypriot EEZ.

“It is at least an oxymoron that a country, which threatens Greece with war if our country exercises its legal rights, violates our sovereignty and sovereign rights, as well as the Republic of Cyprus, almost daily, and launches unacceptable provocative statements and threats. At the same time, it accuses us of destabilizing the Eastern Mediterranean,” Greek diplomatic sources note.

As they state, “our country will continue to act exclusively with the protection of our national interests and the promotion of security and stability in the wider region in mind, having as its compass the respect of international law and especially the international law of the sea”.

“We reject in their entirety the baseless Turkish accusations,” they conclude.

It is noted that the representative of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Tanzu Bilgic, referring to the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, accused Greece and Cyprus of taking steps that increase the tension in the region.

“Efforts to send research ships to our continental shelf in the Mediterranean continue. We are responding to these challenges both on the field and at the table, and we will never allow our rights to be violated,” said Mr Bilgits.

Nautical Geo again in the Cypriot EEZ

Meanwhile, the research ship Nautical Geo is on plot 1 of the Cyprus EEZ. The vessel departed on Thursday from the berth of Larnaca.

The ship headed south of Cyprus on plot 1, in the sea area most of which is south of Limassol.

Nautical Geo will carry out surveys after the issuance of a relevant NAVTEX by the Republic of Cyprus.

NAVTEX is valid from October 21 to 23 and there is so far no update for its renewal for a longer period.

The ship Nautical Geo is owned by an Italian company with a Maltese flag. Continues its soundings in the context of the construction of the East Med pipeline funded by the European Union with the participation of Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Israel.