Turkish invasion of Cyprus

Turkey on June 7 stressed its commitment to protecting the rights of Turkish Cypriots in the Eastern Mediterranean after the Greek Cypriot administration said it had signed contracts with major energy industry players.

Greek Cypriot energy minister said on May 21 there is a plan for eight drilling activities in 24 months in the unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone, according to Greek newspaper Kathimerini.

Both the current administration and the next will be called upon to manage Greek-Turkish relations at their most critical phase since the invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

Turkey condemned the participation of a Greek Cypriot representative to NATO's change of command ceremony on May 3.

The Turkish Cypriot foreign minister on May 2 criticized EU's decision to admit Greek Cyprus unilaterally into the union in 2004.     

A court within the British military bases in Cyprus has sentenced a Palestinian man to six months in prison after finding him guilty of trying to illegally bring two men into a base from the island's Turkish Cypriot breakaway north.

A bases statement said Thursday that Mohammed Aljaro was arrested as he tried to drive through a checkpoint last month.

Europe's top human rights court has ordered Turkey to pay a fine to the relatives of a murdered Turkish Cypriot family after ruling it had failed to cooperate with neighboring Cyprus in investigating the 14-year-old crime.

Keeping up the tension in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday sparked controversy by underscoring Ankara's military might as his foreign minister announced that the country will start exploring for natural resources around Cyprus.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Jan. 2 warned that it will take action against the Greek Cypriot administration if it continued to stop travelers from crossing their mutual border.

A group of Greek-Cypriot university students went on a two-day hunger strike on Tuesday outside the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the unilateral proclamation of the Turkish-Cypriot state in the occupied north of Cyprus on Thursday.

A march to the Turkish Consulate has also been planned for Thursday.