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EU Welcomes Turkish Ship's Return to Port from near Cyprus

A Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) engineer poses on the helipad of the Turkish drilling vessel Yavuz in the Eastern Mediterranean off Cyprus, Aug. 6, 2019. (Reuters)
A Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) engineer poses on the helipad of the Turkish drilling vessel Yavuz in the Eastern Mediterranean off Cyprus, Aug. 6, 2019. (Reuters)
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EU Welcomes Turkish Ship's Return to Port from near Cyprus

A Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) engineer poses on the helipad of the Turkish drilling vessel Yavuz in the Eastern Mediterranean off Cyprus, Aug. 6, 2019. (Reuters)
A Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) engineer poses on the helipad of the Turkish drilling vessel Yavuz in the Eastern Mediterranean off Cyprus, Aug. 6, 2019. (Reuters)

A Turkish drill ship has left the area where it was operating southwest of Cyprus and reached Turkey's coast for maintenance in a move the European Union said would help ease tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Refinitiv tracking data showed the Yavuz vessel reached shore and the Energy Ministry said it would now prepare for work in a new location.

EU member Cyprus' internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government has long been at loggerheads with Turkey over the demarcation of maritime waters and other issues. Turkish vessels began drilling for oil and gas near Cyprus last year.

EU leaders last Friday assured Cyprus the bloc would punish Turkey if it continues drilling in disputed Mediterranean areas, after resisting Cypriot calls to impose sanctions on Ankara.

The Yavuz was to be operating southwest of Cyprus until Oct. 12. Greece, a close ally of Cyprus, had called the work provocative.

The ship finished work at the Selcuklu-1 well on April 24 and returned to Tasucu Port, the energy ministry said. "Following preparatory work at the port, Yavus will continue drilling operations in a new location," it said.

A spokesman for the EU executive, the European Commission, said: "The departure constitutes another welcome step towards de-escalation ... and we hope for similar and further moves in this direction."

"It's an important signal," he told a regular briefing.

Turkish seismic research vessel Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa remains off southeastern Cyprus and its operations there have been extended to Oct. 18.

Regional tensions simmered after Turkish and Greek frigates collided at sea in August near a Turkish exploration vessel, but calmed after Turkey and Greece agreed to resume bilateral "exploratory talks" that ended in 2016.

NATO announced last Thursday that Greece and Turkey, both alliance members, had set up a "military de-confliction mechanism" to avoid accidental clashes at sea.

The island of Cyprus was split after a 1974 Turkish invasion spurred by a brief coup engineered by the military then ruling Greece.

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Cyprus and instead recognizes a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the island.

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UN Chief and Pope Call for Nations to End the Use of Antipersonnel Land Mines

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, 21 November 2024. (EPA)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, 21 November 2024. (EPA)
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UN Chief and Pope Call for Nations to End the Use of Antipersonnel Land Mines

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, 21 November 2024. (EPA)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, 21 November 2024. (EPA)

The UN head, Pope Francis and others called Monday for nations to end the production and use of land mines, even as their deployment globally grows.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a message to delegates at the fifth review of the International Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, that 25 years after it went into force some parties had renewed the use of antipersonnel mines and some are falling behind in their commitments to destroy the weapons.

“I call on states parties to meet their obligations and ensure compliance to the convention, while addressing humanitarian and developmental impacts through financial and technical support,” Guterres said at the opening of the conference in Cambodia.

“I also encourage all states that have not yet acceded to the convention to join the 164 that have done so. A world without anti-personnel mines is not just possible. It is within reach.”

In a statement read on behalf of Pope Francis, his deputy Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that antipersonnel land mines and victim-activated explosive devices continue to be used. Even after many years of hostilities, “these treacherous devices continue to cause terrible suffering to civilians, especially children.”

“Pope Francis urges all states that have not yet done so to accede to the convention, and in the meantime to cease immediately the production and use of land mines,” he said.

The treaty was signed in 1997 and went into force in 1999, but nearly three dozen countries have not acceded to it, including some key current and past producers and users of land mines such as the United States, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea and Russia.

In a report released last week by Landmine Monitor, the international watchdog said land mines were still actively being used in 2023 and 2024 by Russia, Myanmar, Iran and North Korea. It added that non-state armed groups in at least five places — Colombia, India, Myanmar, Pakistan and the Gaza Strip — had used mines as well, and there were claims of their use in more than a half dozen countries in or bordering the Sahel region of Africa.

At least 5,757 people were killed and wounded by land mines and unexploded ordnance last year, primarily civilians of whom a third were children, Landmine Monitor reported.

Landmine Monitor said Russia had been using antipersonnel mines “extensively” in Ukraine, and just a week ago, the US, which has been providing Ukraine with anti-tank mines throughout the war, announced it would start providing Kyiv with antipersonnel mines as well to try and stall Russian progress on the battlefield.

“Antipersonnel mines represent a clear and present danger for civilians,” Guterres said in his statement. “Even after fighting stops, these horrifying and indiscriminate weapons can remain, trapping generations of people in fear.”

He praised Cambodia for its massive demining efforts and for sharing its experience with others and contributing to UN peacekeeping missions.

Cambodia was one of the world's most mine-affected countries after three decades of war and disorder that ended in 1998, with some 4 million to 6 million mines or unexploded munitions littering the country.

Its efforts to rid the country of mines has been enormous, and Landmine Monitor said Cambodia and Croatia accounted for 75% of all land cleared of mines in 2023, with more than 200 square kilometers (80 square miles).

Prime Minister Hun Manet joined the calls for more nations to join the Mine Ban Treaty, and thanked the international community for supporting Cambodia's mine clearance efforts. He said they have reduced land mine casualties from more than 4,300 in 1996 to fewer than 100 annually over the last decade.

“Cambodia has turned its tragic history into a powerful lesson for the world, advocating against the use of anti-personnel mines and highlighting their long-term consequences,” he said.