European Union leaders are expected to scold Turkey for its saber-rattling in the eastern Mediterranean, part of its efforts to block oil and gas exploration in Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Reuters reported on Thursday.
In citing a draft of the statement, the news agency said it will be released later in the day.
According to widely circulated citations of the Reuters report, the statement “urgently calls on Turkey to cease these actions and respect the sovereign rights of Cyprus to explore and exploit its natural resources in accordance with… the law”.
Turkish warships prevented a vessel owned by Italian energy multinational Eni last month from conducting exploratory drilling off Cyprus.
Turkey, almost alone in the western world, is neither a signatory nor does it recognize, de facto, the validity of the UN Law of the Sea. It also militarily occupies one-third of Cyprus' territory, ostensibly in the name of defending Turkish Cypriots.
