Turkish Minister threatens Cyprus about oil exploration in the MediterraneanTurkish daily Today’s Zaman ( online) publishes an interview with Turkish EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis. Apart from his “warnings” to Cyprus, Bagis shared his views on a number of issues ranging from the state of affairs in Turkish opposition parties to humanitarian aid in Somalia, the London riots and the Libyan refugee crisis. Following is part of the interview as published in the newspaper:

“Greek Cyprus has declared that it will begin oil exploration in the Mediterranean on Oct. 1. Can you comment on this?

The kinds of things that have happened in the past [Turkish naval interference with exploration] whenever the Greek Cypriots have made such attempts may well happen again. That is how serious Turkey is. Doing this in waters where they have no jurisdiction is illegal. Turkey will rely on international law to pursue its rights to the fullest extent.

Will the navy send a fleet?

This is what we have the navy for. We have trained our marines for this; we have equipped the navy for this. All options are on the table; anything can be done.”