Former Ambassador of Cyprus Andres Lacovides commented in response of Turkish Foreign Minister about exploration in EEZ as legally baseless.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister claimed that some of the sections of EEZ ‘‘are overlapping with Turkey’s continental shelf areas in the Eastern Mediterranean''.

Turkey’s Minister also warned that Turkey,''will not allow under any circumstances foreign oil companies to conduct unauthorised oil/natural gas exploration and exploitation activities in these overlapping areas and will take all necessary measures to protect its rights and interests in the maritime areas falling within its continental shelf''.

 In an interview to CAN, Lacovides said that the Turkish claims that five of the 13 blocks of Cyprus' EEZ, namely 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7, are in Turkey's continental shelf, and are ''legally unfounded and geomorphologic ally baseless''.