U.S. Ambassador and Turkish Minister on Cyprus’ exploration plans for natural gas

Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 16.08.11), under the title “US rebuffs Turkey’s call on S Cyprus”, reports that the United States will not force a U.S. firm to stop its plans to explore for natural gas off of Cyprus’ southeastern coast in October despite recent pressure by Ankara to do so.

“I am not about to give advice to American companies,” U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Frank Ricciardone said in response to a question about whether Washington would urge Noble Energy to stop natural gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

Ricciardone only said that Washington would continue supporting Cyprus reunification talks.

The top U.S. envoy made the comments at a press conference with Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz.

“We are aware of Turkey’s stance on this. Regarding the solution in Cyprus, as always, we continue to support the efforts from both parties,” said Ricciardone.

On the same issue, Turkish daily Today’s Zaman (online, 16.08.11) under the title “Turkey set for nuclear talks with other countries after Japanese setback”, reports that Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz reiterated Turkey’s concern over scheduled drilling activities of Cyprus in October in eastern Mediterranean and alleged that this behaviour will not be legitimate.

“This is also what international law says. We don’t consider drilling in areas that are not defined in exclusive economic zones as legitimate,” Yildiz said. The Turkish minister argued also that he hopes that this issue will not bring an additional problem to the matters in the region.