As reported by the Nova agency, following yesterday's announcement by the Ankara government that it communicated the continuation of the military exercises of the Turkish Navy off the coast of Cyprus until March 10, exercises that, in fact, would make exploration activities impossible of hydrocarbons in the area, the Cypriot Head of State Nicos Anastasiades assures that "the energy plans of the Republic of Cyprus will continue", also arguing that Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots should return to sit at the negotiating table, provided they put an end to "the violation of sovereign rights" in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus. The arguments of the Turkish side, according to Anastasiades, are "neither justified nor substantiated by real facts".
The Nicosia press has announced that, following a conversation between President Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the problem of blocking exploration activities in the exclusive economic zone (Zee) of Cyprus by Turkey, the decision was agreed to present the problem before EU leaders in Brussels at the informal European Council meeting scheduled for Friday.