Turkey threatens under guard offshore drilling

Turkey threatened to start oil and gas exploration "very soon" and under naval escort in the eastern Mediterranean, after the Greek Cypriots said they had already started their own operations.

"We will start this within our exclusive economic zone very soon, possibly this week," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference despite a call to desist from the European Union which Turkey hopes to join.

Erdogan also warned that the region "will be under the constant surveillance of Turkey's frigates, assault boats and the Turkish air force."

"This exclusive zone is disputed," he said, adding that Turkey has conveyed its complaints that the Greek Cypriot government -- recognised internationally but not by Ankara -- was acting inappropriately.

Ankara only recognises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), a statelet set up in the wake of the island's division in 1974 following Turkey's invasion.

The Greek Cypriot energy chief said Monday that US energy firm Noble had started exploratory drilling for gas off the southern coast of the island.

Solon Kassinis told the semi-official Cyprus News Agency that Noble had begun drilling Sunday night from its Aphrodite platform inside the island's exclusive economic zone.

Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz earlier called on Cyprus to hold off "immediately" on the planned drilling, failing which Turkey would retaliate.

He said Ankara had signed an agreement with a Norwegian company for seismic drilling off the island, but he declined to name it.

"First of all, we will start exploration with one vessel," Yildiz said.

Turkey has repeatedly called on Cyprus to postpone its gas exploration, saying the Greek side has no right to do so while the island remains split, thus leaving the Turkish north out of the picture.

Yildiz repeated that "depending on the developments, Turkey could sign a continental shelf agreement" with the TRNC, which would grant Turkey the right to share offshore energy sources.

A US official, who requested anynomity, meanwhile said Washington "supports Cyprus' right to explore for energy," and "doesn't believe that should undermine or interfere with the talks" to resolve political issues on the divided island.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the US position known in her talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the US official added.

The Greek Cyprus government, which says its hydrocarbon search is to the benefit of all Cypriots, has angered Turkey further by seeking to extend cooperation with Israel in the exploration and export of natural gas.

In December, Cyprus and Israel signed an agreement defining their maritime border that allows the neighbours to forge ahead in the search for energy sources in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey and Israel have been locked in a bitter dispute since May 2010 when Israeli naval commandos stormed a convoy of six ships trying to reach the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, killing nine people.

The row also threatens to complicate Turkey's relations with the European Union, which Ankara has warned it will freeze when EU member Cyprus takes the rotating presidency of the bloc as scheduled next year.

"That will be an important choice for the EU, between Turkey and Greek Cyprus," he said.

Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said Monday that the EU urges Turkey "to refrain from any kind of threat or sources of friction or action which could negatively affect the good neighbourly relations and the peaceful settlement of border disputes."

Kocijancic repeated EU calls for a comprehensive settlement for Cyprus, saying, "All parties should exercise restraint and do their utmost to facilitate success for completion of this process."

"We have also underlined the importance of progress in normalisation of the relations between Turkey and all EU member states, including for example Cyprus," she told a press briefing in Brussels.

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