Ankara sends Barbaros off the Cypriot coast again

Turkey is stoking tension again in Cyprus by sending surveying vessel Barbaros toward Nicosia's exclusive economic zone on Monday, according to reports in the Cypriot press, as Athens calls on Ankara to return to the path of sensibility.

The seismographic ship of the Turkish navy will be escorted by two support vessels, following the issue of a new Navtex directive by Turkey, which commits a large region including parts of the Republic of Cyprus's zone.

Nicosia daily Phileleftheros published a map showing that the mission of Barbaros will concern a region starting four sea miles off the Apostolos Andreas Cape on the Karpasia peninsula, northeastern Cyprus, stretching east to the Syrian-Turkish borderline coastal point.

In the last couple of months Barbaros has also conducted seismic surveys for hydrocarbon reserves further to the northwest, in the area...