Nicosia (AFP)

The Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union, on Friday accused Turkey of overruling EU appeals by sending a new drill ship into the island's territorial waters, denouncing "a serious escalation".

"Cyprus strongly condemns Turkey's new attempt to carry out illegal drilling operations in the south-west of the island," the government said in a statement.

"The new drilling operations, planned this time in an already allocated block, constitute another serious escalation of Turkey's continuing violations of the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus," the text added.

According to Nicosia, Turkey has sent the drill ship Yavuz to Block 7 of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Continental Shelf, and the operating licenses for this area have been awarded to the French and Italian energy giants, Total and Eni, last September.

According to the Cypriot Government, the area where the Turkish ship is to operate is clearly defined under international law as part of the territorial waters of Cyprus.

"This new provocation is an example of how Turkey is ignoring repeated calls by the EU and the international community to stop illegal activities," the government said.

Nicosia asserts that Turkey's "provocative and aggressive behavior" will not deter him from conducting explorations and exploiting gas.

The discovery in recent years of gigantic gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean has whetted the appetite of Cyprus, which dreams of becoming a major energy player.

But Turkey, whose army occupies the northern third of the island, opposes any exploration and exploitation of these resources that would exclude that part of Cyprus, where live the Turkish Cypriots.

In recent months, Ankara has sent three drills off the coast of Cyprus despite warnings from Washington and the EU, which adopted a series of political and financial measures in mid-July to punish continued drilling.

Cyprus has been divided in two since its northern invasion of Turkey in 1974 in response to a coup by Greek Cypriots seeking to unify the island to Greece, which worried the Cypriot-Turkish minority.

Formal discussions on a reunification of the divided island have stalled since 2017.

© 2019 AFP