Commenting on reports that Turkish warships were being sent to the island, Disy deputy leader Averof Neofytou said this was an unacceptable threat to the sovereign rights of independent country, member of the UN and the EU.

“At the same time we must make strong protestations to the area where we belong, Europe that is, and ask for decisions by the European Commission and other competent EU organs, condemning these actions by Turkey, which at the same time wants to continue its accession negotiations with the EU, Neofytou said.

Socialist Edek party leader Yiannakis Omirou said that whether the reports about the movement of warships were true or not, the fact remained that Turkey “was repeating itself as the permanent troublemaker and factor of anomaly and destabilisation in the area.”

Predatory

The EU and the international community, he stressed, must put a stop to predatory and expansionist behaviours, to the law of the jungle and the gunboat policy.

He went on to say that these were attitudes and practices hearkening back to the Ottoman Empire and wondered whether this was the same country that wanted to join the EU without satisfying any criteria and being free to murder journalists like the Armenian Hrant Dink, as well as to threaten the life of Nobel Prize winners like Orhan Pamuk.

In statements earlier on during the offshore row, Akel Secretary General and House President Demetris Christofias had noted that Turkey was behaving as an occupation power, which the United Nations and the international community had unfortunately not put in its place.

“It is such an unacceptable attitude that makes me wonder why it is passing unnoticed without any protest by the United Nations,” Christofias said.

Unacceptable

He added: “Cyprus as an independent country is acting in the context of international law and the law of the sea in particular, and generally completely legitimately with its neighbouring countries. This is why I consider the attitude of Turkey to be unacceptable and outside international legality.”

The single-seat Green Party said they supported the government position on the issue and called on it to proceed to prudent handling of Cyprus’ agreements with neighbouring countries, with the aim of exercising its sovereign rights and utilizing its mineral wealth."