Cyprus to block all of Turkey's EU negotiating chapters

Cyprus will block all of Turkey's European Union negotiating chapters in response to an alleged violation of its exclusive economic zone by a Turkish exploration vessel, a government spokesman said here Tuesday.

Cyprus has said that Turkish seismic data vessel Barbaros on Monday entered a marine block in which Italian-South Korean consortium ENI-Kogas started drilling for natural gas earlier this month, some 74 km south of the Cypriot city of Larnaca.

Cypriot authorities said the vessel proceeded to a neighboring block on Tuesday.

"We cannot consent to the opening of any new chapters under the current circumstances," government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides told journalists after a session of the National Council, which is made up of parliamentary party leaders and advises the president.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades had announced the country would no longer participate in UN-brokered negotiations aimed at reunifying the island.

Cyprus was divided into ethnic Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot parts after Turkish military action in 1974 in response to a coup by officers of the military junta then ruling Greece..

Christodoulides said that the National Council decided to promote a total of eight measures in response to Turkey's action, including blocking all of Turkey's negotiating chapters and lodging complaints with the EU and UN.

Turkey has been negotiating its EU accession but progress has been slow because of its dispute with Cyprus, which has already blocked eight of about 35 negotiating chapters.

Tuesday's decision means that the opening of other chapters will not be possible because decisions on the negotiating process for the enlargement of the European Union have to be made unanimously.

Turkey claims sovereign rights in a marine area south of Cyprus in which Cypriot authorities have issued concessions to several foreign energy companies for natural gas and oil exploration.

Texas based Noble Energy has already discovered an estimated 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, near an Israeli area where even larger quantities of gas have been found.

Results of the ENI-KOGAS exploratory drilling are expected to be known by December, but Cypriot officials monitoring the operation said indications are encouraging.

Cypriot specialists said that the area of the eastern Levantine basin contains up to 62 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that could be an alternative source of energy for European countries, now dependent of Russian gas.

Turkey reacted to the start of the drilling by announcing it was sending Barbaros seismic vessel for exploration which will last until December.

Cyprus strongly denounced the action as a serious escalation of Turkey's actions.

"This is a clear violation of Cyprus's sovereign rights," spokesman Christodoulides said.

The Defense Ministry also announced that joint Israeli-Cypriot military drills were concluded on Tuesday, with the participation of Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighter planes.

"The armed forces of the Republic of Cyprus and the State of Israel concluded the exercise Onisilos-Gideon-2/2014 successfully, in the framework of their annual cooperation plan," a Defense Ministry statement said.

Cyprus and Israel have concluded an agreement for joint development of natural gas lying on the border line of their respective exclusive economic zones and are in consultations for possible joint projects for exporting their gas. Enditem