02 February 2007

ANKARA: Turkey's top general on Thursday confirmed a report that warships were patrolling the Eastern Mediterranean, but denied they had been sent to waters near Cyprus over an oil exploration row as claimed in local media. "We already have ships that patrol the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean. It's nothing new," General Yasar Buyukanit, the military chief of staff, said. "There is no need to send new warships."

Earlier, private NTV television had reported that Turkey sent battleships to the region to show Cyprus it was determined to safeguard its rights in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The channel later said that Turkish warships in the region had been instructed to begin patrols as of Thursday in areas outside their regular field of duty.

The measure had been agreed by the Foreign Ministry and the general staff in order to convey Ankara's displeasure over the oil and gas deals, the news report said.

Turkey had warned Lebanon and Egypt on Tuesday not to press ahead with oil and gas exploration deals signed with Cyprus, saying Turkey and Turkish Cypriots also had rights in the region.

Cyprus said Wednesday it would protest to the UN and the EU over Turkey's warnings, and vowed to press ahead with a tender for the project.

On Thursday, Cypriot Foreign Ministry official Alexandros Zenon said his country was monitoring the situation and would "act accordingly" if there was a violation of its territorial waters.

"The way Turkey behaved in recent days makes it a destabilizing factor in the area, at a time when our wider region needs stability," the Cyprus News Agency quoted Zenon as saying.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said in Istanbul Thursday that his state, which is not recognized internationally, would not give up on exploration rights.

"In the same way that we did not give up on Cyprus, we won't give up our rights to its resources," Talat said."We have equal rights on the island."

Talat added that it was not unusual for Turkish ships to sail around Cyprus.

Greece and Turkey remain at odds over Cyprus and over boundaries in the Aegean Sea, despite efforts in the past decade to resolve disputes and gain Greek backing for Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

Cyprus has been divided into a Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north since a Turkish invasion in 1974 sparked by a coup supporting union of the island with Greece.

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with the Greek government in the south and supports the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state, recognized only by Ankara. - Agencies