NICOSIA  - Cyprus slammed Turkey for stoking tensions in the region through its illegal drilling for oil in the occupied areas.
Turkey began its first exploratory oil and gas drilling in the north in a dispute that challenges the island’s sovereign rights to mineral wealth.
"Such actions as the drilling being carried out by Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership demonstrate a lack of willingness on their part to achieve a solution to the Cyprus problem," said government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou.
"The government is making the appropriate representations and demarches against this new illegal act.”
Turkey's state-run Turkish Petroleum Corp bored the first onshore probe in the Famagusta village of Sygkrasi at a ceremony attended by Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.
"I am hopeful that the results will open up a new page for us in oil and gas production," Yildiz told reporters.
This does not bode well for stalled peace talks with the UN trying to re-engage the leaders in a more positive spirit of reconciliation that has been lacking for some time.
TPAO is expected to carry out the exploration drills from three to six months, at an approximately 3,000-metre depth. >3