Government Spokesman Stephanos Stephanou has described as “unacceptable and dangerous“ remarks the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu has reportedly made that he considers a cause of war the exploitation of Cyprus’ sub-sea natural resources by Greek Cypriots.

US company ‘Noble Energy’ received in October 2008 a concession from the government of Cyprus to explore Block 12 for possible reserves of hydrocarbons, in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone, which borders reserve-rich ‘Leviathan’ in Israel’s EEZ.

Invited to comment on statements attributed to Eroglu, published in “Volkan” newspaper, that “war will break out”, if the Cyprus government goes ahead with oil and natural gas exploration, the Spokesman said that “if Eroglu has indeed made such statements, then these are truly unacceptable and dangerous”. He stressed that “the Republic of Cyprus has a sovereign right to manage its EEZ and any talk or threats have no place in such a sensitive issue”.

The Spokesman added that the government is very careful and is silently working to safeguard its sovereign rights. “We hope that Eroglu does not continue to maintain this very dangerous pattern of remarks which do not help and merely create problems”, he added.