Turkey, Cyprus tensions rise over oil spat
Tensions increased on Tuesday as Cyprus accused Turkey of adopting 19th century gunboat diplomacy in a spat over oil exploration off the divided Mediterranean island. Ankara hit back by accusing a Greek Cypriot oil search mission of violating its territorial rights and vowed to make its own protests to international bodies over the dispute. Turkey was adopting "politics of the 19th century," Cypriot Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou charged. "No modern state, especially one that wants to join the EU, sends out warships to impede the (legal) exercise of rights."
President Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, also condemned the latest incident off Cyprus's south coast during which Nicosia says a Turkish warship turned back a Norwegian-flagged exploration vessel on November 13. "We are determined to defend the sovereign rights of the Cyprus Republic," said the president. "We have lodged protests with the United Nations and European Union over these provocations by Ankara." He was speaking to reporters before a new round of UN-brokered talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat aimed at reuniting Cyprus after decades of division.
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