Turkish provocations within Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone continue. According to recent information, Barbaros, the Turkish research ship which has been sailing in the waters of the Cypriot EEZ since October 20, is accompanied not only by 2 Turkish warships, but also by a submarine of the Turkish fleet.

The Turkish submarine has been close to the research ship all along, although its presence in EEZ was kept secret. This is yet another demonstration of Ankara’s willingness to continue its illegal surveys under the threat of military action, in an area where the sovereign rights for researching and developing the underwater resources belong exclusively to the Republic of Cyprus.
A military source said the Cypriot newspaper “Fileleftheros” that is common practice for the Navy in Turkey and other countries to send a submarine along in missions involving frigates or corvettes, so as to secure better control of the area where the mission takes place.

The presence of the Turkish submarine close to Barbaros was confirmed last week by UNIFIL ships that entered Cyprus’ EEZ as part of the search for the tracking of the two passengers of the small Diamond aircraft that crashed.