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Category: Cyprus/TRNC

  • Turkish Cypriot athletes excluded from the London 2012 Olympic Games

    Turkish Cypriot athletes excluded from the London 2012 Olympic Games

    olympics cyprusMonday 9th July 2012: The British Turkish Cypriot Association and Southwark Turkish Cypriot Association will be issuing the attached letter to Lord Moynihan, Chairman of the British Olympics Association, ahead of the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

     

    British Turkish Cypriot Association Chairman, Cetin Ramadan, said in a letter to Lord Moynihan: Many British Turkish Cypriots have expressed their dismay, sadness and disappointment at the exclusion of Turkish Cypriot athletes in the forthcoming London Olympic Games. As the British Turkish Cypriot Association, we have been called upon to channel their heartfelt grievances and request a reason why the International Olympic Committee (IOC) cannot accept Turkish Cypriots participating under the Olympic flag. Regardless of the political circumstances in Cyprus, this should not be used as a reason to bar Turkish Cypriots from sport. We cannot understand why the IOC has denied participation of Turkish Cypriot athletes in the London 2012 Olympic Games especially as they are willing to compete as individual athletes under the Olympic flag, similar to other athletes from countries such as Kuwait, Syria, Iran and Kosovo. Any world class athlete would consider it an honour to represent their own nation and to compete under the colours of their national flag. The Turkish Cypriot athletes are no exception; they too want to represent their own people and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. However, the Turkish Cypriot athletes have put aside the politics and compromised their own flag and country by agreeing to participate under the Olympic flag as a positive way forward.

    The former President of the IOC, the late Juan Antonio Samaranch, had made an offer to Turkish Cypriots allowing them to participate in all future Olympic Games under the Olympic flag. Turkish Cypriots are willing to accept participation under the terms laid out by the former IOC President and to join the Games under the Olympic flag as individuals rather than under their own national flag. We cannot comprehend what has changed since the IOC’s original invitation and why the current President Mr. Jacques Rogge is not entering into dialogue with the Turkish Cypriot sportsmen and women who have already submitted an application for participation in the London 2012 Games.
    Despite this clear example of the benefits of inclusion, many sporting bodies such as the UK FA, IOC and FIFA, which openly promote inclusion for everyone and denounce political discrimination, seem to conveniently ignore their own rules when it comes to the sporting rights of Turkish Cypriots sportsmen and women. Point 4 of the IOC’s Fundamental Principles of Olympism states that:
    “The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”
    Furthermore, item 6 points out that:
    “Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.”
    Are Turkish Cypriot athletes an exception to these principles? The British Olympic Association (BOA) openly promotes inclusion for everyone and they clearly denounce political discrimination. We hope the same principle applies for the sporting rights of Turkish Cypriot athletes from Northern Cyprus. Young Turkish Cypriot athletes also have the same aspirations as all top class world athletes. We are asking the BOA to support the inclusion of Turkish Cypriot athletes in these and future Olympic events. Furthermore, we would like to appeal to the BOA to raise this matter with the IOC as a matter of urgency. We believe that the discrimination of this magnitude represents a particularly vicious form of unreason and fear in the search for a UN sponsored political agreement in Cyprus. We believe it is precisely the mission of the IOC to dispel any such future actions by setting an example of the importance of diversity at a European and global platform. We have raised this subject with other ethnic community groups in both the UK and abroad particularly interested in observing the outcome of an official complaint against the IOC and hope that they will resolve the issue promptly and fairly and within accordance of the above mentioned principles. There are thousands of Turkish Cypriots living in the UK who are finding it difficult to embrace the 2012 London Games in the same manner as other nationals of ethnic origin, simply because our brethren are being excluded. Help us to change this absurd and unjust situation by supporting the inclusion of Turkish Cypriot athletes in these and future Olympic events.

  • ROS-LEHTINEN: Time for Turkey to leave Cyprus in peace

    ROS-LEHTINEN: Time for Turkey to leave Cyprus in peace

    I. Los Lehtinen hanim Amerikan Kongresindeki Sozde Turk lobi Grubunun Temel direklerinden biri kabul edilmekde idi .. Simdi Yunan ve Israil tarafi oldu oy ve para icin.

    It reminds me of the old saying “Turk’un Turk’ten baska dostu yoktur”.

    A blatantly biased newspaper opinion piece by Republican Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen which doesn’t even mention the fact that in separate simultaneous referenda held on the Annan Peace Plan in Cyprus on 24 April 2004 the majority Greek Cypriot population voted down the UN Plan (75.38% against), whereas the minority Turkish Cypriot population (including the settlers from Turkey) voted for the Plan (64.91% in favor). Referenda in which 89.18% of the Greek Cypriots and 87% of the Turkish Cypriots voted.

    Someone should remind Ros-Lehtinen of the words of US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher in 2004 after the Greek-Cypriot rejection:

    “We think that a Greek Cypriot vote against the settlement means that a unique and historic opportunity was lost. We believe the settlement was fair. It has been accepted by the Turkish Cypriot side. There will not be a better settlement. There is no other deal. There is no better deal available. And we hope that the Greek Cypriots will come to comprehend this in due time.”

    We would also do well to remember that Florida, and particularly the southern part of the state,has the second highest Jewish population in the U.S. (the first is in NewYork). Hence, the references by Ros-Lehtinen to Turkey ignoring various Cyprus related UN Resolutions and to Turkey’s position regarding the exploration agreement between Cyprus and Israel; this, despite the numerous UN resolutions Israel has ignored regarding returning to its pre-1967 borders.

    As the most senior Republican woman in the House of Representatives (since 1989) and as Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ros-Lehtinen has significant influence on bilateral relations between the U.S. and Turkey, and it is highly unlikely that supporting her Democrat rival in November is going to make any difference to her getting re-elected. However,my reaction as a Turkish-American would be to keep my money in my pocket instead of contributing to her future campaigns. Also, it would not hurt to e-mail her to express our disappointment and to point out that alienating Turkey by such unnecessary and one-sided statements might not only effect U.S. interests vis-à-vis Iran and Syria; but might even encourage the initiation of a referandum on the part of the Turkish Cypriots to join Turkey, thus resulting in the very annexation she is seeking to avoid:

    Enis PINAR

    ———————————————-

     

    Long-standing occupation amounts to annexation

    Since its invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Turkey has claimed that it was acting as a protector and guarantor of the island’s security. But a closer examination of its actions on Cyprus indicates motivations of a very different character. Turkey’s invasion resulted in hundreds of thousands of Greek Cypriot refugees, who have been unable to return to their homes for almost 40 years. The international community has repeatedly condemned the illegal military occupation of Cyprus by Turkish troops. The United Nations Security Council has passed 75 resolutions calling for Turkey to allow Greek Cypriots to return to their homes and to withdraw its troops from Cyprus. Yet Turkey continues its occupation.

    More than 40,000 heavily armed Turkish soldiers are occupying the northern part of the country, with one Turkish soldier for every two Turkish-Cypriots. The presence of this overwhelming force cannot be justified by the claims that they are needed to prevent any renewal of violence. In fact, since the 2003 opening of the border between the two communities, more than 17 million intercommunal visits have occurred without conflict.

    The result of this occupation by foreign troops is that many Cypriot neighborhoods in the occupied areas remain vacant or in a state of disrepair. One of the most tragic examples is the Varosha region of Famagusta. Once an important commercial and tourism center for the island, Varosha was fenced off following the invasion, and access has been prohibited for all except Turkish military forces. Over the years, this area has become a virtual ghost town.

    The desolation of Cypriot properties and cultural sites is not restricted to Varosha but is a reality in all the areas under Turkish military occupation. In fact, an estimated 520 Greek Orthodox churches and chapels, and 17 monasteries in the occupied areas have been pillaged, vandalized or destroyed. Often these religious sites have been converted into stables, bars, nightclubs, casinos or hotels, leaving more than 15,000 religious artifacts unaccounted for. This widespread destruction of Cypriot historic, religious and cultural identity certainly does not seem like the behavior of a “protective guardian.”

    Turkey also continues to interfere in the domestic affairs of Cyprus, especially the negotiations on reunification. The goal of these talks is a Cypriot-developed, mutually agreeable settlement based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, including a single sovereignty, single citizenship and single international presence. But instead of allowing the representatives from the Turkish-Cypriot community to engage freely in the talks, the Turkish government has imposed its own criteria, which has made an agreement all but impossible.

    Turkey also has tried to limit Cyprus’ sovereign rights to develop its energy resources. Despite the island’s critical energy needs, Turkey declared last year that it had “nullified” the exploration agreement between Cyprus and Israel even though it has no right to do so. Turkey escalated the conflict by sending its own ships to the region and even threatened military action if Cyprus continued in its project with Israel. Although from the beginning, Republic of Cyprus President Demetris Christofias guaranteed that any energy resources discovered would be used for the benefit of all Cypriots, Turkish officials claimed their actions were to protect the rights of the Turkish-Cypriots.

    Reports by the Turkish-Cypriot media indicate that the Turkish government continues to promote illegal immigration by Turks to the northern occupied areas of Cyprus with the goal of changing the demographic composition of the island. According to people administering the occupied area, there are an estimated 160,000 settlers from Turkey, many of whom occupy the homes of the evicted Greek-Cypriots. However, reports in the Turkish-Cypriot press from Turkish-Cypriots who live among the Turkish settlers put this number between 500,000 and 800,000. A recent “census” in the north indicated that the total population in the north had increased to nearly 300,000 people. Just 88,900 of them were native Turkish-Cypriots, who are outnumbered by illegal Turkish immigrants by a ratio of almost 2-1.

    Ankara’s support for these illegal immigrants is not welcomed by the native Turkish-Cypriot community. In fact, Stella Altziman, who resides in that region of Cyprus, wrote in 2010: “Due to constant migration from Turkey, [the northern occupied area] is like a Turkish province” and the native Turkish-Cypriots have become a minority in their own land. Last year, many Turkish-Cypriots protested Turkey’s policies toward Cyprus, with some carrying banners that read, “Ankara, get your hands off our shores.” Yet Turkey continues to flood its areas of occupation with illegal Turkish immigrants. In his visit to Cyprus last year, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan mocked the Turkish-Cypriots, stating, “If you don’t want us to send people, you need to have more babies.”

    By its occupation, Turkey is “guaranteeing” nothing but a creeping annexation. It is time for Turkey to withdraw its military troops, end all support for illegal immigration to Cyprus and let the true inhabitants of the island determine their own future. Only then will the long-suffering Cypriot people finally enjoy the peace and security they have been trying so desperately to achieve for decades.

    Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican, is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/15/time-for-turkey-to-leave-cyprus-in-peace/

  • ROS-LEHTINEN: Time for Turkey to leave Cyprus in peace – Washington Times

    ROS-LEHTINEN: Time for Turkey to leave Cyprus in peace – Washington Times

    Long-standing occupation amounts to annexation

    Illustration Cyprus under Turkey by John Camejo for The Washington Times

    Since its invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Turkey has claimed that it was acting as a protector and guarantor of the island’s security. But a closer examination of its actions on Cyprus indicates motivations of a very different character. Turkey’s invasion resulted in hundreds of thousands of Greek Cypriot refugees, who have been unable to return to their homes for almost 40 years. The international community has repeatedly condemned the illegal military occupation of Cyprus by Turkish troops. The United Nations Security Council has passed 75 resolutions calling for Turkey to allow Greek Cypriots to return to their homes and to withdraw its troops from Cyprus. Yet Turkey continues its occupation.

    More than 40,000 heavily armed Turkish soldiers are occupying the northern part of the country, with one Turkish soldier for every two Turkish-Cypriots. The presence of this overwhelming force cannot be justified by the claims that they are needed to prevent any renewal of violence. In fact, since the 2003 opening of the border between the two communities, more than 17 million intercommunal visits have occurred without conflict.

    The result of this occupation by foreign troops is that many Cypriot neighborhoods in the occupied areas remain vacant or in a state of disrepair. One of the most tragic examples is the Varosha region of Famagusta. Once an important commercial and tourism center for the island, Varosha was fenced off following the invasion, and access has been prohibited for all except Turkish military forces. Over the years, this area has become a virtual ghost town.

    The desolation of Cypriot properties and cultural sites is not restricted to Varosha but is a reality in all the areas under Turkish military occupation. In fact, an estimated 520 Greek Orthodox churches and chapels, and 17 monasteries in the occupied areas have been pillaged, vandalized or destroyed. Often these religious sites have been converted into stables, bars, nightclubs, casinos or hotels, leaving more than 15,000 religious artifacts unaccounted for. This widespread destruction of Cypriot historic, religious and cultural identity certainly does not seem like the behavior of a “protective guardian.”

    Turkey also continues to interfere in the domestic affairs of Cyprus, especially the negotiations on reunification. The goal of these talks is a Cypriot-developed, mutually agreeable settlement based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, including a single sovereignty, single citizenship and single international presence. But instead of allowing the representatives from the Turkish-Cypriot community to engage freely in the talks, the Turkish government has imposed its own criteria, which has made an agreement all but impossible.

    Turkey also has tried to limit Cyprus‘ sovereign rights to develop its energy resources. Despite the island’s critical energy needs, Turkey declared last year that it had “nullified” the exploration agreement between Cyprus and Israel even though it has no right to do so. Turkey escalated the conflict by sending its own ships to the region and even threatened military action if Cyprus continued in its project with Israel. Although from the beginning, Republic of Cyprus President Demetris Christofias guaranteed that any energy resources discovered would be used for the benefit of all Cypriots, Turkish officials claimed their actions were to protect the rights of the Turkish-Cypriots.

    Reports by the Turkish-Cypriot media indicate that the Turkish government continues to promote illegal immigration by Turks to the northern occupied areas of Cyprus with the goal of changing the demographic composition of the island. According to people administering the occupied area, there are an estimated 160,000 settlers from Turkey, many of whom occupy the homes of the evicted Greek-Cypriots. However, reports in the Turkish-Cypriot press from Turkish-Cypriots who live among the Turkish settlers put this number between 500,000 and 800,000. A recent “census” in the north indicated that the total population in the north had increased to nearly 300,000 people. Just 88,900 of them were native Turkish-Cypriots, who are outnumbered by illegal Turkish immigrants by a ratio of almost 2-1.

    Ankara’s support for these illegal immigrants is not welcomed by the native Turkish-Cypriot community. In fact, Stella Altziman, who resides in that region of Cyprus, wrote in 2010: “Due to constant migration from Turkey, [the northern occupied area] is like a Turkish province” and the native Turkish-Cypriots have become a minority in their own land. Last year, many Turkish-Cypriots protested Turkey’s policies toward Cyprus, with some carrying banners that read, “Ankara, get your hands off our shores.” Yet Turkey continues to flood its areas of occupation with illegal Turkish immigrants. In his visit to Cyprus last year, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan mocked the Turkish-Cypriots, stating, “If you don’t want us to send people, you need to have more babies.”

    By its occupation, Turkey is “guaranteeing” nothing but a creeping annexation. It is time for Turkey to withdraw its military troops, end all support for illegal immigration to Cyprus and let the true inhabitants of the island determine their own future. Only then will the long-suffering Cypriot people finally enjoy the peace and security they have been trying so desperately to achieve for decades.

    Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican, is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

    via ROS-LEHTINEN: Time for Turkey to leave Cyprus in peace – Washington Times.

  • Turkey refuses to attend EU events if Cyprus presides

    Turkey refuses to attend EU events if Cyprus presides

    Turkey will not attend any event Cyprus presides over when the divided nation assumes the European Union presidency in July, Turkey’s foreign minister said today, although it will continue to collaborate with the EU.

    Turkey does not recognize Cyprus as a sovereign nation and opposed it taking over the EU presidency until a solution to the dispute is found. The island was split into an internationally recognized Greek-speaking south and a breakaway Turkish-speaking north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of a union with Greece. Only the Greek section is part of the EU.

    “EU-Turkey relations and the political contacts we are currently establishing will continue as they are,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a joint news conference with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule. “Yet no ministry or organization of the Turkish Republic will take part in any activity that will be presided by Southern Cyprus.”

    Eight policy issues have been frozen by the bloc over Turkey’s refusal to allow ships and planes from Cyprus enter its ports and airspace.

    Turkey, however, is showing renewed interest in reviving its stalled bid to join the European Union, now that one of its key opponents Nicolas Sarkozy is no longer the president of France.

    Turkey began its EU accession negotiations in 2005 but made little progress in its candidacy, thanks to its dispute with Cyprus and opposition from Sarkozy to Turkey’s membership. Sarkozy argued that the predominantly Muslim country is not a part of Europe and wanted Turkey to accept some kind of a special partnership with the EU instead of full membership an offer Turkey rejected.

    Now that Socialist Francois Hollande has replaced the conservative Sarkozy as France’s president, Turkey hopes France will be more sympathetic to the candidacy of a country that has one of the world’s fastest growing economies and is becoming a regional diplomatic player.

    “Turkey will determinedly progress in its course toward the EU,” Egemen Bagis, the Turkish minister in charge of EU affairs, said Thursday.

    Ashton, meanwhile, thanked Turkey for sheltering nearly 27,000 Syrian refugees who fled violence in neighboring Syria where forces loyal to President Bashar Assad are waging a crackdown on an uprising.

    “First of all our thought everyday with the people of Syria,” Ashton said. “We are horrified by the violence and determined to work together in support of solutions.”

    -AP

  • Could Cyprus pull Turkey and Israel into war?

    Could Cyprus pull Turkey and Israel into war?

    While Ankara is keen to mend fences with Tel Aviv after recent tensions, the latter appears to be turning the tables, creating sparks over Cyprus, writes Sayed Abdel-Meguid

    Perhaps the watchword for developments on the Aegean- Eastern Mediterranean axis, where Turkey and Israel have been engaging in bouts of muscle flexing and squabbles over deep-sea oil, is “posturing”. By no means does this apply to the heir to the Ottoman Empire alone; the Hebrew state is just as obsessed with its image. Yet, contrary to the impression it may seek to convey, Ankara has been the keener of the two to put an end to the deterioration in the relations between it and Tel Aviv.

    110912a1A steadily escalating dual between the two countries has seethed several years. It first erupted with an angry verbal exchange and has since passed through Turkish condemnation of the blockade on Gaza, the televised spat during the Davos conference, and the Israeli assault against the Mavi Marmara off the shores of Gaza in May two years ago.

    For four years, then, Turkey and Israel have growled, taken menacing steps against each other, and then backed off and continued to eye one another warily. Nor does either side appear ready to relax its guard, in spite of numerous efforts to ease tensions between the two. The most recent was reported in the Turkish daily, Sabah, which wrote that, as a gesture towards mending the rift between the two countries, Israel returned four Heron pilotless spy planes to Turkey after a month-long delay. These were four of the five aircraft that Ankara had sent back to Israel last year for repairs after they had technically malfunctioned. The article adds that some friendly European governments have been mediating between the two countries.

    Elsewhere in the Turkish press we find reports transmitted from the Israeli press that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent an envoy to his Israeli counterpart, Netanyahu, with the purpose of repairing the rift in their bilateral relations.

    Meanwhile, it has also been reported that Israeli officials have contacted families of the Turkish victims who died in the attack on the Turkish ship that was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. According to these reports, the officials were secretly instructed to offer compensation amounting to $6 million along with a letter of apology. However, the gesture falls short of Turkish demands, to which testify the warrants issued by the Turkish public prosecutor for the arrest of four Israeli army commanders. He named former chief-of-staff Gabi Ashkenazi, deputy commander of the navy Admiral Eliazar Maroum, director of military intelligence General Amos Yaldin, and head of Air Force intelligence General Avishai Levi, and called for their life imprisonment for having issued the orders to attack the Mavi Marmara.

    For his part, US President Barack Obama urged his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gèl to try to restore a positive climate in Turkish-Israeli relations. In the meeting between the two heads of state, which took place during the NATO summit in Chicago 20-21 May, Obama said that improved relations between the two countries would contribute to promoting stability in the region which has been swept by the revolutions of the Arab Spring. Gèl naturally took the occasion to remind Obama of the need for an official Israeli apology for the Mavi Marmara incident. Referring to the need for an official apology for the Mavi Marmara incident, Gèl responded that Israel is well aware of the steps that have been taken, and that if Israel takes these steps, Turkey will act accordingly.

    The evidence, thus, indicates that Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party government, which may have initiated the mounting antagonism between Ankara and Tel Aviv two years ago, is now the more eager of the two to mend fences. Fully aware of this, Israel was quick to take advantage and did so by approaching the Greek-Cyprus duo in order to trigger a new conflict.

    News sources have revealed details about a defence treaty between Israel and Cyprus (officially referred to by Turkey as southern or Greek Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognise) which was signed during a visit by Netanyahu to the divided island on 16 February. During that visit, Cypriot President Demitris Kristofias asked the Israeli prime minister to increase Israeli investment in Cyprus. Netanyahu’s response was to insist on permission to establish a naval and air force base there.

    According to a news analysis in a Turkish newspaper, Israel wants to deploy 20,000 commandos in Southern Cyprus in order to protect the crude oil pipeline that Israel plans to construct in the Eastern Mediterranean and to ensure the security of the natural gas station at Vasiliko in Limasol. The article, appearing in Vatan, cited unidentified sources as saying that these measures are part of a greater plan to build a second Israel in the Middle East. It adds that Jewish businessmen have bought large areas of land in northern Cyprus (referred to as the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, which only Ankara recognises) through bogus companies in that part of Cyprus. “They have already inaugurated a Jewish temple in one of the villages, affixed a sign in Hebrew and appointed a rabbi for it,” the source is quoted as saying.

    Decision-makers in Turkey are aware that European governments and the US are not unconnected with these ambitions and, indeed, have been encouraging Israel to take hostile steps against their country. That Israel has been building partnerships with countries in the Balkans and in the Caucasus has heightened suspicions that it is constructing a web around Anatolia. “These moves are indicative of carefully studied plans that are being implemented if not in order to dominate then at the very least in order to capitalise on the energy sources along the old Silk Road,” a source said.

    Returning to the question of Cyprus, could it indeed propel Turkey to clash with Tel Aviv? There is no doubt that Turkish opinion at the official and popular level feels strongly about the issue, so the answer could be yes. But a central problem is the balance of military might between the two countries, which weighs against Ankara and which would give Israel the preponderance in a military clash.

    It would seem in Turkey’s interest not to escalate, but rather to show more flexibility in order to turn over a page that it is keener than others to put behind it. Therefore, threatening to annex northern Cyprus to Turkey, as Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis did, is bound to backfire. Wavering to act on this threat would only diminish the credibility of the Turkish government before the Turkish people and the rest of the world. The same would apply with the regard to the threat to freeze relations with the EU in the event that Cyprus assumes the presidency of the EU parliament 1 July.

  • Turkey says Israeli plane violates N.Cyprus airspace

    Turkey says Israeli plane violates N.Cyprus airspace

    ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey said on Thursday it had scrambled military jets to intercept an Israeli plane that violated northern Cypriot airspace this week, and demanded an explanation for the incursion.

    cyprus airspaceAn Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the accusation. But the incident marked a fresh source of tension between the former allies.

    Relations between Turkey and Israel fell apart after Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara aid vessel in May 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with pro-Palestinian activists.

    Monday’s reported air incursion coincided with tensions on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus over oil and gas exploration plans there, which could hinder U.N.-backed efforts to reunite the island.

    “A plane belonging to Israel, the model of which could not be identified, violated KKTC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) airspace (above its territorial waters) five times,” the Turkish military said in a statement posted on its website.

    “In response to this situation, our 2XF-16 plane based at Incirlik was scrambled and our planes carried out patrol flights in KKTC airspace, preventing the said plane from continuing to violate KKTC airspace,” said the statement.

    Turkey’s foreign ministry said it had contacted Israel’s mission in Ankara, seeking an explanation for the incursion.

    In Jerusalem, an Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking the report.

    Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when the Turkish military invaded the island after a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the military junta then in power in Athens.

    Turkey still keeps about 30,000 troops in the north and is the only nation that recognizes the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

    ENERGY EXPLORATION TENSIONS

    The internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government reported an offshore natural gas discovery in December but its attempt to exploit the reserves has been challenged by Turkey.

    Ankara has in turn given approval for Turkey’s state-run oil firm to carry out oil and gas exploration in six offshore areas around northern Cyprus, drawing condemnation from the Greek Cypriot government, which lays claim to the territory.

    Israel has separately reported two major energy finds offshore in the sea separating it from Cyprus.

    Israel has worked to enhance ties with Cyprus and Greece as its relations with Turkey have frayed.

    The eastern Mediterranean has recently seen joint Israeli military maneuvers with its partners, as well as long-distance training by Israel’s air force for a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

    Israel uses warplanes and pilotless drones, as well as naval craft, to patrol its offshore natural gas fields.

    Turkey stirred fears of a possible confrontation at sea by saying last year it would boost its naval patrols in the eastern Mediterranean.

    But a senior Israeli military officer told Reuters there had been no discernible increase in Turkish naval operations in Israel’s economic waters, which extend 187 km (117 miles) from its coast.

    (Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

    via Turkey says Israeli plane violates N.Cyprus airspace – chicagotribune.com.