With the irregular Turkish NAVTEX (953/26), Turkey announced illegal surveys in areas of Cyprus’s territorial waters and continental shelf, as part of the planned undersea natural gas pipeline between Turkey and Turkish occupied Northern Cyprus, according to diplomatic sources. “This action is yet another provocative unilateral move,” they stressed.
“Under International Law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), unilateral actions to develop energy infrastructure without the consent of the Republic of Cyprus lack any legal basis and violate its sovereignty and sovereign rights,” the same sources said, adding:
“These actions are part of an ongoing effort to consolidate the faits accomplis of the occupation and clearly violate the rules of international law.”
“At a particularly critical time for the wider region, such actions heighten tensions, undermine confidence-building and work against regional stability.”
