Turkey Launches Major Naval Exercises Amid Heated Dispute with Cyprus

Turkey’s military has launched major naval exercises amid rising tensions over its plan to explore for gas off the coast of Cyprus. The drills will include 131 vessels, 57 airplanes and 33 helicopters, and will take place until May 25 across the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black seas. It follows Ankara’s announcement that it will begin carrying out exploratory drilling, a move the European Union warned would encroach on Nicosia’s exclusive economic zone, and which the United States described as “highly provocative.” Turkish forces in 1974 invaded and occupied Northern Cyprus – the validity of which the international community has rejected – in response to an attempted coup on the island by Greece’s then-military junta. The discovery of massive gas reserves in the Mediterranean has fueled a race to tap the underwater resources. To this end, Israel, Greece and Cyprus are weighing the construction of a $7 billion pipeline through which to export natural gas to various European markets. Turkey, a primary conduit for the transfer of Russian-produced gas to the continent, vehemently opposes the plan.