Erdogan urges the Greek Cypriot side to halt offshore drilling

According to Ankara Anatolia news agency (29.09.11), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a televised address to the nation on Thursday, has reiterated a call on the Cyprus Government to halt offshore drilling for hydrocarbon reserves around Cyprus, saying that crisis and tensions would serve in no one’s interests.

“Those who expect leverage from a crisis or political gain from tension must stop making such mistakes”, Erdogan told.

Erdogan claimed that the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu presented to the UN Secretary-General a proposal in a bid to offer a fair solution to the offshore drilling standoff in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“The proposal offers, in case the Greek Cypriots insisted on drilling, setting up a committee of Turkish and Greek Cypriots as well as written permissions from both sides on drilling agreements and licenses, and negotiations to determine how the income from hydrocarbon reserves would be shared among the two communities if drilling proved successful in exploring oil or gas,” Erdogan said, adding that the proposal also put forward the condition that the hydrocarbon income could not be spent to buy weapons.

“This is indeed a very fair and constructive proposal and a good opportunity to end the crisis. If the Turkish Cypriot proposal is left without a response, neither Turkey nor the TRNC [breakaway regime] will let such a fait accompli in defiance of their rights,” Erdogan alleged.