Greek-Cypriot administration

The defense cooperation agreement signed by Cyprus and the US that outlines ways the two countries can enhance their response to regional humanitarian crises and security concerns has elicited Turkey's condemnation.

The threats by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan that the war in the Middle East would spread westward, especially to the Republic of Cyprus and Crete, are seen to constitute a clear rhetorical choice and yet another dissonance in the process of normalization of Greek-Turkish relations over the last 16 months. 

In what was seen as an attempt to push the narrative of Athens fueling tensions, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed Greece for the attempted search by German marines of a Libya-bound Turkish ship for weapons earlier this week.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday suggested Greece and Cyprus were behind the interception of a Turkish vessel by German soldiers on behalf of a European Union mission off the Libyan coast late Sunday.

Turkey has issued a navigational telex reserving a large area south of the island of Kastellorizo, within Greece's continental shelf, for military exercises on Sunday as Greeks go to general elections.

The Turkish Navtex has reserved an area stretching from the south of Kastellorizo westwards towards Rhodes for exercises that will use live ammunition.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean that Ankara's activity in the Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ] of the Republic of Cyprus aims to "guarantee that the rights of the Turkish-Cypriots are accepted by the Greek-Cypriot administration, Greece, the EU, and everyone else".

The "only thing" that Ankara wants with its recent activities in the Eastern Mediterranean is to "guarantee that the rights of Turkish-Cypriots are accepted by the Greek-Cypriot administration, Greece, the EU and everyone else," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted by the state-run Anadolou Agency as saying on Wednesday.

The Greek Foreign Ministry has said that the recent rhetoric from Ankara concerning Turkey's rights in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean is undermining regional stability.

"The Turkish provocations undermine the stability of the region at a crucial juncture and demonstrate the paucity of Turkey's legal arguments," the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Turkey's Foreign ministry claims that research for oil and gas off the shores of Cyprus "does not contribute to stability in the area" and may potentially change a certain "delicate balance" concerning the division of the island.

Recent statements from Turkish officials suggest that Ankara has no plans to back away from its energy plans in the Eastern Mediterranean, including sea areas under Cyprus's jurisdiction.