You're reading: Turkey on collision course with Greece, Cyprus

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Greece has protested a decision by Turkey to send a vessel to search for oil and gas south of a Greek island,

The escalation of tensions in the eastern Mediterranean comes at a times when Turkey told Cyprus not to go ahead with its plan for offshore oil and gas drilling activities. Cyprus has vowed to "exercise its sovereign rights."

Cyprus was split into a Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded the island. Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, but only the south enjoys the membership’s benefits.

Greece late Thursday protested Turkey’s decision to hire a Norwegian vessel to survey the south of its Kastelorizo island — an area outside Greek territorial waters, but where Athens has claimed the rights to potential undersea mineral and fossil fuel deposits.