Thread by @bscfederico

Turkey is moving ahead with its drilling off Cyprus' shores in violation of International law, again. After two drilling ships to the west and east, the Turkish government announced that it is sending a third ship to the south of the island

greece.greekreporter.com/2019/07/18/tur…

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The ship is entering an area where Cyprus granted drilling rights to Italian and French oil companies. Turkey is already drilling at two other areas, claiming that these are on continental shelf of the Turkish Cypriots and that they are defending their exploitation rights

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Turkey says that the Turkish Cypriots rights are the same of the Greek Cypriots. Fair enough, but Nicosia rejects these claims insisting they are inconsistent with international law and that Turkey does not even accept the international dispute settlement mechanisms

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How far will both sides go in this lingering conflict? As there are economic interests involved, it's easy expect that this stand-off to continue to spark conflicts between the Europeans and Turkish. The EU and Cyprus will have to respond, but how?

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It’s hard to imagine the EU holding a united front to do whatever it takes to make Turkey compliant and protect Cyprus. This is the unresolved weakness of the EU, a weakness that a middle power such as Turkey knows very well how to use (just think about the migrants issue)

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