Since the 1950s, there has been bad blood between Turkey and Greece over Cyprus. Turkey intervened in 1974 after a coup staged by supporters of union with Greece; the conflict has been frozen since then. Greek Cyprus joined the European Union in May 2004, only a week after the Greek Cypriot population by a decisive majority voted down the UN plan for the reunification of the island, adding to the complication of the conflict. EU-member Greek Cyprus has strengthened its international position at the cost of Turkish Cypriots.
The Greek Cypriot government therefore considered it to be its indisputable right to negotiate with foreign countries and international companies to explore and exploit the natural resources of the island without reaching an agreement with the Turkish Cypriots. In protest of that Greek-Cypriot approach, Turkish Cypriots signed an agreement with Turkey in 2011 calling for Ankara to prevent any unilateral move by the Greek Cypriot administration to explore hydrocarbon resources around the island, saying its natural resources should be exploited in a fair manner under a united Cyprus.
Against that backdrop, Turkey sent the seismic data ship Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha hunting for hydrocarbons to international waters off the coast of Greek Cyprus on Oct. 20. The Greek Cypriot Defense Minister Christoforos Fokaides claimed that the Barbaros and two additional vessels entered the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Greek Cyprus and pronounced it to be a violation of all international and European maritime laws, undermining security and stability in the region. Not only did the Greek Cypriot side suspend the peace talks, blaming Turkey for being the aggressor on this issue, but on Oct. 24 Greek Cypriot Prime Minister Antonis Samaras sought EU leaders' support in Brussels to block any further progress in Turkey’s accession talks with the union.
On Oct. 21, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkey will not backpedal from its seismic surveys off the island. “The resources in Cyprus are for all Cypriots, and Turkey will continue its seismic surveys to search for oil and gas on Cyprus’ continental shelf; we have the right and we can use that right any time we want. Any step that excludes one side of the island is not acceptable.”
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