Turkish Foreign Ministry issues statement regarding gas exploration in Cyprus EEZ; Davutoglu clarifies Turkey’s stance on the issueAnkara Anatolia news agency (05.08.11) reported that the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement which says that the “Greek Cypriot administration” [as they refer to the Republic of Cyprus] violated international laws and rights of the third parties, continued efforts to sign bilateral agreements with the countries in the East Mediterranean since 2003, and conducted natural gas exploration activities.
The statement said inter alia: “the agreements which the Greek Cypriot administration made and its natural gas and oil exploration activities had a negative impact on the solution of Cyprus problem and caused new disagreements among the countries of the region.
Views and warnings of both Turkey and the TRNC were registered before the regional countries and the UN, and we had stated that we expected companies and countries, interested in oil/natural gas exploration activities in the south of Cyprus based on invalid licenses, to act in responsibility.
We still preserve our approach and views on the matter. In the light of the recent news reports and formal statements that exploration works would start in the south of Cyprus at the beginning of October, it will be beneficial to point out some elements.
The Greek Cypriot side does not have the right and authority to make a statement, launch an initiative or sign an agreement unilaterally regarding the natural resources belonging to the island on behalf of the whole island. Such kind of activities lacking legal basis causes tension in the island and in the region and damage the ongoing negotiation process.
The risks and disadvantages of launching such kind of unilateral activities, at a time when negotiations are underway to establish a new partnership to determine the future of the island, are obvious. This manner of the Greek Cypriot administration is untimely and an example of irresponsibility. Such kind of acts hamper efforts for reconciliation.”
The statement said that the international community should act in responsibility not to give credit for the initiatives of the Greek Cypriot administration aiming at seizing rights of the Turkish Cypriot party to make use of the natural resources of the island equally. “Turkey and the TRNC will continue to launch initiatives through diplomatic and political means in line with international laws aiming to protect their legal rights and interests,” the statement concluded.
Furthermore, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday that Ankara will react if Cyprus continues with its exploration plans. “We will show the appropriate reaction if any further step is taken… the Greek Cypriot administration does not have the right to embark on oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean unless the Cyprus issue is resolved and a government representing the entire island is formed,” Davutoglu told reporters and added that Turkey’s stance is “firm and clear.”
Turkey to undertake initiatives to the UN Security Council and Washington against the natural gas exploration activities of the Greek Cypriot side
Under the title: “Cyprus note to Washington”, Turkish daily Hurriyet (08.08.11) reports that Turkey is taking action to the international field against the decision of the Greek Cypriot side to launch natural gas exploration activities in the Mediterranean Sea on October 1.
According to the paper, Turkey is preparing to transfer to the agenda of the UN Security Council and to Washington as well the decision of the Greek Cypriot side to launch natural gas exploration activities.
The paper writes that Ankara has decided to undertake diplomatic initiatives at Washington during this week and writes that through its Ambassador in Washington is going to convey to the Obama Administration its discomfort on the fact that the American Nobel Energy Company has accepted to make the first drill in plot 12 which is determined as within the “Exclusive Economic Zone”.
At the same time writes the paper, Turkey is to undertake initiatives to all members of the UN Security Council expressing the belief that the stance of the “Greek Cypriot administration” aims to sabotage the efforts for finding a comprehensive solution to the island. Turkey will convey also the following: “In a period which the talks continue for the determination of the future of Cyprus and are in a critical stage, this kind of unilateral activities are risky and undesirable. The irresponsible stance of the Greek Cypriot administration will get a blow to the efforts for reconciliation in the island”.
Turkish Cypriot dailies point out to the Turkish side’s contradictory statements on the rights of the Turkish Cypriots in the Republic of CyprusUnder the title: “Contradiction”, Turkish Cypriot daily Ortam (07.08.11) reported that the oil and natural gas exploration by the Republic of Cyprus continues to cause tension between the Greek Cypriot side and Turkey. “While statements which reach to (the point of) threats are made between the two countries, the statements that are full of ‘contradiction’ made by the Turkish side on the rights in the Republic of Cyprus continue” writes the paper.
Ortam argues that on the one hand the “warning statements” made by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the oil and natural gas explorations of the Republic of Cyprus and the statements made in the same sense by the Turkish Cypriot leader Eroglu and self-styled prime minister Kucuk, and on the other hand the statement made by Prime Minister Erdogan that “no state such as the Republic of Cyprus exists” brings onto the agenda “a contradiction which is experienced for many years”.
Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika (07.08.11) refers to the same issue under the title: “Leave aside the TRNC and look at the partnership”. The paper notes that there is only one legal way for the Turkish Cypriots to be able to equally share the natural resources in the sea of the island. This is defending the partnership in the Republic of Cyprus, writes the paper, adding, inter alia, the following:
“The Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says on the one hand that ‘there is no Cyprus state’ and on the other refers now to the partnership of the Turkish Cypriots with this state. Have they remembered these rights of ours when our seas gave out the smoke of oil and natural gas? Turkey, which seized half of the island and established a satellite state here, continues to threaten the Greek Cypriots demanding the handing over of our rights in the Republic of Cyprus as well?”
Comments on Cyprus’ gas exploration in the Mediterranean
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (07.08.11, online) publishes an article by Yusuf Kanli, entitled: “A gassy problem.” Kanli in his article tries to shed light in the circumstances under which the agreement to sent UN Peace forces in Cyprus was signed. He writes that because the U.N. needed to sign a host-country agreement to dispatch peace troops, which is the reason why today there is a Cyprus Government composed by only Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are being treated as a minority demanding some rights from that Government. The columnist argues that the “Cyprus question is a power sharing problem between two politically equal founding components of the 1960 Republic” and writes inter alia:
“That is why until the Cyprus problem is resolved and Turkish Cypriot inalienable partnership in the entire natural wealth of the island is restored, the Greek Cypriot Government ? which indeed under the March 1964 Resolution is nothing but a provisional administration in the absence of a Greek-Turkish constitutional Government ? cannot and should not have legally and morally the unilateral right to explore hydrocarbon resources offshore Cyprus.
Furthermore, Greek Cypriot plans to unilaterally start exploration for natural gas resources were not conducive at all with the Cyprus talks process. Particularly at a time when leaders of the two peoples of the island are engaged in intensified negotiations to prepare for a key summit in October with the U.N. Secretary-General, such efforts undermining rights of Turkish Cypriots in continental shelf and natural resources of the island would further poison confidence much needed for a resolution. So far there has not been any sort of delineation of exclusive economic zones agreement between Turkey and the Greek Cypriot-administered Cyprus Republic, with which Ankara has no formal links. International law provides for the delineation of exclusive economic zones to be done among the littoral countries, bearing in mind the rights and interests of all sides. Not only the rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriot people and their state, which is not recognized anyhow, but also Turkey was totally disregarded in the gassy decision of the Greek Cypriot administration.
On the same subject, Turkish daily Today’s Zaman (05.08.11, online) reported that Turkish diplomatic sources considered the recent news of Greek Cypriot’s ambitions to drill for natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean “an unlawful case with one side invading the rights of the other,” as experts interpreted the drill plans a “speculative approach” to obscure the negotiation process between the Greek and Turkish sides.
“Think about it as a case where the two societies are trying to negotiate on settling territorial disputes, but one side partners with a third party to market resources that belong to the entire island, disrupting the process in a move against law and order,” diplomatic sources explained to Today’s Zaman on Friday. The sources also acknowledged that Turkey has conveyed its message “on the unlawful nature of the drill attempt” to the international community as they criticized the Greek Cypriots for acting as the sole authority on matters regarding the entire island. […]
“The Greek Cypriots tend to utilize these resources as a tool of political maneuver; it is a political and diplomatic attempt rather than an economic one,” stated academic Yasar Hacisalihoglu, a visiting professor at the department of political science and international relations at Texas State University. Speaking to Today’s Zaman on Friday, the academic focused on a lack of solution on the divided island as the natural source of the accompanying problems. “There are no clear rights of independence; The island is right there but its political and legal position is completely blurred,” Hacisalihoglu stated as he evaluated the Greek Cypriot move “an attempt at creating an artificial crisis at a time of negotiations.”
“It is a very familiar foreign policy reflex, and the Greek Cypriots do this quite often,” Hacisalihoglu stated as he claimed that Turkey’s approach in the matter will determine the developments in the issue. He also said that it was in Turkey’s best interest to use its soft power, as he explained that “the current Government holds credibility with the international community like it was never held by its predecessors before.”
Looking at it from a legitimacy concern on the part of the Greek Cypriots, “Greek Cyprus gained its legitimacy in a strategic move to enable the UN peacekeeping forces into Cyprus,” commented Mehmet Hasguler, an assistant professor at the European University of Lefke, on Friday. Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Hasguler said that “without crisis, Greek Cyprus has no grounds of legal existence,” as the academic interpreted the drill an attempt of the Greek Cypriot side to cast Turkey in the position of an EU candidate that tries to obstruct the economic activities of an EU member.
“The strategy was to blame the fault of division on the Turkish side for decades, but when the Annan plan failed because of them [Greek Cypriots], they needed another reason to tag Turkey the ‘deal breaker,’ when it does everything to comply with the international policies,” Hasguler claimed.
