Turkey and Greece brace for a standoff in the eastern Mediterranean over controversial new Turkish plans to drill for gas in Cypriot waters.
This comes as regional industry leaders discuss energy plans at a conference in Athens.
Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos reports from the Greek capital, Athens.
Cyprus, officially called the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Republic of Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts: the area under the effective control of the Republic, located in the south and west and comprising about 59% of the island’s area, and the north, administered by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, covering about 36% of the island’s area. Another nearly 4% of the island’s area is covered by a UN buffer zone.
The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, remain under the UK’s control according to the London and Zürich Agreements.
The Republic of Cyprus has been a member of the Commonwealth since 1961 and joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.
Greece is a country in southeastern Europe with thousands of islands throughout the Aegean and Ionian seas. Influential in ancient times, it’s often called the cradle of Western civilization. Athens, its capital, retains landmarks including the 5th-century B.C. Acropolis citadel with the Parthenon temple. Greece is also known for its beaches, from the black sands of Santorini to the party resorts of Mykonos.
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant.
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe.
Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, is the country’s largest city, while Ankara is the capital. The majority of the population identifies as Turkish, around 20% identify as Kurdish.
