Island countries

 Greek Foreign Ministry rebuffs Turkish calls to exert pressure on Anastasiades

Greece rejected on Thursday an attempt by Turkey to embroil it in the latest dispute that has broken out on Cyprus in the wake of Nicosia deciding to put reunification talks on hold after Ankara issued a maritime directive for an area within the island’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

One day after Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades suspended talks to reunify the divided island in response to Turkey’s plan to search for oil and gas in waters where Nicosia had already licensed drilling, a United Nations official has reportedly urged both sides to avoid further escalation.

Kudret Ozersay was on Wednesday sacked as chief Turkish-Cypriot negotiator in talks to reunify the Mediterranean island, according to reports in the local media.

The decision, made by Turkish-Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, came a few days after Ozersay announced his intention to run in next year’s elections for the Turkish-Cypriot leadership.

Cyprus on Tuesday pulled out of the latest round of United Nations-buffered peace talks in protest at apparent attempts by Turkey to encroach on Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and called on the international community to condemn Ankara’s “provocative behavior.”

Cyprus's president has suspended talks on reunifying the ethnically divided island in response to Turkey's plans to search for oil and gas in waters where the Cypriot government has already licensed companies to drill.

Greek Cyprus has said peace talks for the ethnically divided island could suffer if Turkey kept on opposing attempts by Nicosia to explore for gas off its southern coast.

Cyprus said on Monday peace talks for the ethnically divided island could suffer if Turkey kept on opposing attempts by Nicosia to explore for gas off its southern coast.

The Cypriot government has licensed multinationals to explore for hydrocarbons in the area and Italy's ENI currently has a platform drill at one site.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades spoke on the phone on Monday in the wake of a move by Turkey to apparently stake a claim to Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Cypriot government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said the conversation took place “in light of recent developments.”

Greek police say they have arrested seven people, including an airline pilot and a ground crew staff member, on suspicion of participating in a ring smuggling migrants onto flights from Thessaloniki to other EU countries.

Talks between Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday focused on the prospects for a settlement to the Cyprus problem amid a new peace push, with Venizelos underlining the importance of “encouraging dialogue.”