Turkish challenges in Cyprus's EEZ

It is well known that Turkey regards the concept of the EEZ as its most important enemy in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Ankara sees a great opportunity in the Cyprus EEZ and is ready to make the game more difficult. Thus, with threats and extortions, it is laying claim to Block 3 of the Cypriot EEZ and has immobilized the Saipem 12000 drillship contracted by the Italian-French Eni/Total consortium, preventing it from reaching its destination.

As it disregards the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Ankara has no diplomatic relations with the internationally recognized southern part of the island. Turkey asserts that it has a maritime border with Egypt, and the only way to claim it is to insist that Greece has no maritime border with Cyprus. But Block 4 of the Cypriot EEZ clearly shows that Cyprus does have a maritime border with Greece and...