“The situation with the defence ministry has now become very serious,” main opposition New Democracy’s shadow minister for foreign affairs George Koumoutsakos said on Thursday. He was talking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) about Nicosia’s denial of reports appearing in the Greek press regarding a possible military ‘close encounter’ in Cyprus’ territorial waters.
“Defence ministry ‘sources’ talk about an incident in Cyprus and Nicosia denies this…there cannot be talk about a possible incident at a time when actions to exploit the energy reserves in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone are underway. This frivolity is now becoming dangerous,” Koumoutsakos said.
Earlier, Cyprus government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said that Nicosia had no information confirming reports in the Greek press about possible attempts by the Turkish military to trigger an “incident” near Cyprus in June, when the French company Total is due to start drilling for natural gas.
In statements to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), Christodoulides said that Nicosia was in constant contact with the Greek government and “had no such information, nor are such claims confirmed.”
He was responding to articles that appeared in the Greek press on Thursday, citing sources within the Greek defence ministry, which said the ministry expected some kind of military activity by Turkish forces when drilling begins.
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