Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos urged the EU not to allow the tyranny of Turkey in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Cyprus amid Ankara’s plans to conduct exploration using the Fatih drilling ship sent there, said the Greek President at a meeting held on Monday evening with the EU’s main negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier.

Pavlopoulos thanked Barnier for his position on the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus and, in particular, on the issue of the EEZ of Cyprus.

In turn, Barnier, referring to his visit to Cyprus and the meetings held there on Monday, said that he agreed with Cyprus regarding the arbitrariness of Turkey in the Cyprus EEZ”

Ankara, challenging the boundaries of the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus, sent its Fatih drilling vessel to the Cyprus EEZ on May 4. Turkey claims that the drilling will last for four months, and threatens to send a second drilling ship to this area. The Greek Foreign Ministry demanded Ankara to withdraw Fatih from the waters of Cyprus and stressed that it maintains constant communication and coordination with the Republic of Cyprus, its EU partners and allies regarding follow-up actions.

Large natural gas deposits have been found on the shelf and in the Cyprus EEZ. In 2011, the American company Noble Energy discovered, the Aphrodite deposit, whose reserves are estimated at about 140 billion cubic meters.