Turkey to send second drillship to East Med, FM says

Turkey will send a second drillship to the Eastern Mediterranean, the country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said adding that seismic research in the area has been completed.

Speaking during a joint press conference with his Kyrgyzstan counterpart Chingiz Aidarbekov, Cavusoglu shrugged off reports that Cypriot authorities have launched procedures to have an international arrest warrant issued for the crew of Turkey’s Fatih drillship off Cyprus.

“We do not take such threats seriously,” he said.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras are expected to brief European Union leaders on Thursday at the informal European Council in Romania about Turkey’s illegal drilling activities within Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which the Cypriot leader has described as tantamount to a “second invasion” – after Turkey troops landed on the island in 1974.