UN’s Ban says natural resources of Cyprus belong to both communities”
Turkish daily Today’s Zaman (online, 27.09.11) with the above title reports, inter alia, the following:
“UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has confirmed during a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that the natural resources of Cyprus island belong to both Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities, a view Turkey voiced in the past few months as a response to unilateral offshore drilling by Greek Cypriots in Eastern Mediterranean.

Ban and Davutoglu had talks in New York on Tuesday where the two leaders discussed a variety of developments in the region, including recent developments in Eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey is using its navy and air force to escort a ship conducting oil and gas exploration off Cyprus in the latest development in a disagreement over the ownership of the disputed island nation’s natural resources.

‘We will try all channels of peace, but we will also protect our country’s interests until the end’, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said on Tuesday at an unrelated ceremony to mark the delivery of the first Turkish-made corvette warship to the navy.

Turkey says any natural resources found offshore should belong to both communities.

State-run Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday that diplomatic sources said that Davutoglu briefed Ban on progress on the peace talks between the Cypriots to reunify the long divided island and developments surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean. Ban also told Davutoglu that he will convene both Cypriot leaders in October in New York.