NICOSIA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus is expecting the European Union (EU) to decide in July on imposing sanctions on Turkey in reaction to its drilling within a marine area claimed by the eastern Mediterranean island as its exclusive economic zone, an official said on Tuesday.
"We think there is a general will to introduce measures...Some things can be finalized in July and our effort is to have some measures (against Turkey) in July," Tasos Tzionis, the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry, told a gathering of foreign correspondents in Nicosia.
Tzionis was making a presentation on Cyprus's exclusive economic zone as demarcated under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, much of which is claimed by Turkey as its continental shelf.
He said that things have moved from the stage of promises after the European Council at its June meeting mandated the European Commission and foreign affairs service to come up with a bundle of measures from which the Council to choose.
"The question is to find the measures which are more appropriate to cause cost to Turkey, to prevent further violations and to cease these illegal activities," Tzionis said in relation to a drilling by a Turkish drillship just 36 nautical miles off the west coast of Cyprus.
He added that the measures have to be targeted and not just symbolic.
Tzionis said that Turkey is engaged in what he called "political drilling" in the sense that it chose its drilling targets with political considerations in mind, so as to exert political pressure on Cyprus in relation to negotiations for a Cyprus solution.
He also accused Turkey of refusing to talk with Cyprus on demarcating their exclusive economic zones.
Turkey has said its hydrocarbon related activities in the Eastern Mediterranean region "are based on its legitimate rights stemming from the international law".
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.
