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The European Union should make Turkey understand that in the 21st, century gunboat diplomacy has no place, Kornelios Korneliou, Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the EU told EurActiv in an exclusive interview. In October, Turkey sent naval vessels specialising in seismic exploration, into Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone, without permission.

Ambassador Kornelios Korneliou is a career diplomat. He has chaired Coreper II during the Cyprus presidency of the EU in 2012, has been ambassador to France and UNESCO and has served in the United Nations, OSCE, Austria and Germany.

He spoke to EurActiv's Senior Editor Georgi Gotev.

Can you describe the current state of affairs, following the exploration by Turkish ships of the Exclusive Economic Zone, and their impact on the reunification talks?

Since the 1990s, Cyprus has initiated bilateral talks with all the countries of our region. These led to bilateral agreements with Israel, Lebanon and Egypt, and on the basis of those agreements we started our drilling activities to find gas [in the Cyprus exclusive economic zone]. In 2011, we found the first gas reserves, on the border [of the Exclusive Economic Zone] between Cyprus and Israel. We continued these drilling activities in 2014. For the first time, we saw a different tone in the reaction of Turkey and we should not forget that these activities take place in the southern part of the Cyprus exclusive economic zone, at the border between Cyprus-Israel, Cyprus-Lebanon and Cyprus-Egypt.

There is no relevance in the Turkish actions in a political or a legal context. Thats why the President of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiades, suspended participation in the talks to solve the Cyprus problem.

The political will is there, but Turkeys illegal reactions, and Im underlining illegal, because that is the position of the international community, including the EU, tied Anastasiades hands.

You cannot take Turkey to court?

First of all, Turkey is not party to the United Nations Conventionon theLawof the Sea (UNCLOS). So Turkey has its own view regarding the International law of the Sea. We are ready to take any action that would lead to deescalation.

But as I was saying, the political will is there, and despite the fact that President Anastasiades suspended his participation at the talks, he made a gesture, and accepted to discuss all pending issues in relation to the energy prospects at the end of the negotiations with the Turkish Cypriot community.

Continued here:
Cyprus Ambassador: The EU should tell Turkey that gunboat diplomacy is over