NICOSIA, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus is investigating information that Turkey has moved materials and equipment related to natural gas drilling to an area close to the western coast of Cyprus, where a Turkish drillship has been active for about a month, further escalating the dispute, the government spokesman said on Sunday.
"There is information on the transport of drilling material and equipment, but we are not in a position to confirm this information, " government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said.
He was commenting on a report published by a local newspaper saying that ships have begun transferring to the area cement and clay mud, an indication that its drillship Fatih has started a hole.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told state-run news agency Anadolu on Friday that Fatih had started its drilling in an area approximately 36.6 nautical miles off the coast of Paphos and inside the Cypriot exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and that a second drillship was being sent in the region.
Prodromou said Turkey is internationally isolated and could face measures over its activities in the Cypriot exclusive economic zone at the upcoming European Council meeting on June 20-21.
"What we know is that just two days ago in Valletta, seven Mediterranean EU Member States condemned the Turkish illegal activity completely in the Cypriot EEZ," he said.
Prodromou was commenting on a summit of the Southern EU Member States in Malta on Friday, after which French President Emmanuel Macron said "Turkey must stop its illegal activities in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone. The European Union will not show weakness on this matter."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday slammed Macron over his remarks.
"The French president wants us to withdraw from the searches in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea," Erdogan said at a meeting in Istanbul.
"We are a guarantor in Cyprus, Greece is a guarantor, the United Kingdom is a guarantor, but who are you?" he said of Macron.
"If you make such a statement on behalf of the Total company, show your attorney agreement," the Turkish leader remarked, accusing Macron of acting on behalf of the French oil and gas company.
Ankara argues that some of the gas fields claimed by the Greek Cypriots overlap with the exclusive economic zone of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots living in the northern part of the divided Cyprus island.
According to Erdogan, Turkey has been conducting drilling activities in locations reserved for it.
