Turkish ship sets sail on Cyprus gas mission

A Turkish ship embarked on a gas exploration mission off the coast of Cyprus on Friday, further stoking tensions around the divided island after the start of a rival offshore drilling project.

Live television footage showed the Piri Reis setting sail from a port in the Aegean province of Izmir in an apparent response to a move by Greek Cypriots to press ahead with gas drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.

Regional tensions have been rising after the Cyprus government, recognised internationally but not by Turkey, made a deal with US energy firm Noble, which has already started exploratory drilling for gas off the south coast.

Turkey on Monday responded by threatening to start its own oil and gas exploration, complete with a naval escort.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is currently in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, held talks with UN chief Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday about the situation in Cyprus.

Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying that Turkey was willing to drop its gas exploration plans if the Greek Cypriots did the same.

Turkey's decision to send the seismic ship comes after it signed an accord with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), a statelet only recognised by Ankara, to explore energy supplies in designated waters off the island.

Turkish Cypriot authorities on Thursday granted the Turkish Petroleum Co. a licence for gas and oil search in the eastern Mediterranean, media reports said.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at union with Greece.

With the island now a member of the European Union, the Cyprus dispute is a major obstacle to Turkey realising its ambitions of joining the bloc.

Turkey has threatened to freeze its ties with the EU if Cyprus takes the rotating presidency of the bloc as scheduled next year.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Cyprus President Demetris Christofias Thursday denounced what he called Turkish provocations over the exploration for hydrocarbon deposits off the island.

"Unfortunately, the effort of the Republic of Cyprus to exercise its sovereign right for exploitation of its marine wealth is met by threats of Turkey against Cyprus," he said.

"Turkish naval manoeuvres in the region of Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone, where exploration is being carried out, are provocative and a real danger for further complications in the region," Christofias said.

"At the same time, Turkey continues its illegal actions by concluding an 'agreement' with the illegal regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus, to pursue exploration within the Republic of Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone."

Turkey's parliament speaker Cemil Cicek on Friday accused the Greek Cyriot government of acting like a "spoilt child" and hiding behind its membership of the European Union.

Under Erdogan, Turkey has been pursuing an increasingly muscular foreign policy and recently pledged to have a more visible naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean amid a dispute with one-time ally Israel, which is also cooperating with Cyprus on oil and gas exploration.

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