“Don’t sacrifice talks in Cyprus for natural gas”

Don’t sacrifice talks in Cyprus for natural gas”Sevil Kucukkosum, writing in Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 14.08.11) with the above title, reported the following:

“Turkey urges Washington to postpone natural gas drilling plans of a US firm in East South Mediterranean, claiming that the trade ambitions of Greek Cyprus could blow out reunification talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriots.

Turkey is launching an international campaign to draw attention to the contested nature of Mediterranean economic zone agreements following a Greek Cypriot decision to begin exploring for natural gas deposits off its southeast coast.

Turkey has been urging the U.S. administration to postpone the date of natural gas exploration activities of a U.S firm off the coast of Cyprus until the island is reunified because the Greek Cypriot exploitation of the island’s common natural resources could entirely destroy the southern territory’s desire for a solution, an official from the Turkish Foreign Ministry told the Hurriyet Daily News on Sunday.

Ankara is urging Washington ‘not to sacrifice the political reunification process of Cyprus for trade’, according to an official.

‘We told the U.S. officials that the unilateral oil and natural gas exploration activities by the Greek Cypriots were against international law and could lead to the end of the ongoing negotiation process for Cyprus unification’, the official said.

Turkey has already conveyed its reservations to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara and to the U.S. State Department in Washington and will bring the issue to the attention of higher-level U.S. officials, he said. Turkey plans to convey also its concerns to the members of the U.N. Security Council.

Ankara objects to two aspects of Greek Cyprus’ agreements with Israel, Lebanon and Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean region, which is believed to possess large reserves of natural gas.

Greek Cyprus’ bilateral agreements are invalid because they did not first solicited the approval of the Turkish Cypriots, Turkey has said.

‘It’s improper that the Greek side is acting unilaterally as if they were the sole owner of the island’, the official said.

Greek Cypriots recently signed a production-sharing contract with Noble Energy to launch exploration activities in November in block 12, an economic zone southeast of the island. The activity depends on the agreement signed on the Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone in 2010 between Israel and Greek Cyprus.

Ankara’s second reservation over the Greek Cypriot’s economic zone agreements in the eastern Mediterranean is on the continental shelf delineation that Greek Cyprus determined in its agreement with Egypt in 2003. Turkey has said it has rights in an area that run from its southern coast to the northern coast of Egypt.

Ankara said ‘islands cannot be considered as if they were part of the mainland’ while determining economic zones in territorial waters. Further objecting to any agreement without the approval of the Turkish Cypriots, Ankara said some parts of the economic zone distribution between Greek Cyprus and Egypt were already illegitimate, according to international law.

Greek Cyprus is planning to initiate a second tender for the West South Mediterranean economic zones, the official said.”

Moreover, Hurriyet Daily News (online, 12.08.11) under the title: “US backs up Greek Cyprus in gas-drilling row”, reported also, inter alia, the following:

“The Greek Cypriot administration’s plans for natural gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean have received a nod from the U.S. administration.

Already convoluted reunification talks on the island now find another layer of sharply differing views over the planned hydrocarbon drilling project. Until now, both the Turkish and Greek sides made clear their respective opposing arguments over the issue. The foreign minister of Turkish Cyprus [breakaway regime], Huseyin Ozgurgun, in a statement released this week called the oil and gas plans ‘unilateral activities’ of the Greek Cypriot administration ‘that are against international laws and will inevitably have a negative impact on the ongoing negotiation process by escalating tension. The so-called Cyprus Republic doesn’t have a right to represent and decide for the Cypriot Turks and the island’s sea privileges by itself’, he said.

(?)

The U.S. choice not to take a clear stance in the drilling row, despite its deep involvement in the Cyprus reunification talks and the Texas-based Nobel Energy, which holds 100% of the unexplored Block 12, an economic zone southeast of the island, puts Americans in the middle of the intense spat.

The Turkish officials, as reported by Hurriyet Daily News last week, were said to have conveyed their concerns both to U.S. officials and the energy company about the project, although when contacted neither Nobel’s spokesperson nor State Department officials who have knowledge of the issue wanted to comment about what kind of messages or warnings they had received from Turkish officials. Instead, a State Department official who is involved with Turkey-related matters referred to Assistant Secretary Philip Gordon’s press round-table in Cyprus at the beginning of the year. In that, Gordon said the U.S. administration doesn’t see any link between the reunification talks and the exploration plans. On the contrary, Gordon views the U.S. firm’s involvement as ‘a very positive thing… on the Cyprus issue we know what the significant issues and chapters are, and I don’t think that changes that in a significant way.’

In a three-point statement I received from the State Department on Wednesday, the U.S. administration states that it is aware of Turkey’s position on the issue, and reiterated its commitment ‘to support strongly the efforts of both Cypriot parties to reunify the island into a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation’. However, as a final point, the U.S. administration underscored that it views the plans in terms of ‘securing energy supplies through better energy diversity’ and that ‘is something that the United States strongly supports for all countries’.

Following the harsh statements coming from the Turkish administration, and at a time when the region’s landscape is rapidly changing and Ankara is growing increasingly confident in asserting its own foreign policy terms, one that appears to be closely aligned with Washington in many instances including in Syria, the gas-drilling project appears to have potential to pose some challenge in the relations between Ankara and Washington, in addition to its already jittery relations with Nicosia.

The U.S. perceives the Greek Cypriot drilling plans, which could reportedly ‘sustain the energy need in Europe for the next 100 years’, in terms of an alternative energy source for its European allies to help gain energy independence, despite fierce Turkish objections.”