TURKEY YESTERDAY warned Lebanon and Egypt not to go ahead with deals on oil and gas exploration with Cyprus, claiming Ankara and the Turkish Cypriots had rights in the region.
A statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the Cyprus government had no right to sign international agreements and warned that the issue might negatively affect the resolution of the Cyprus issue.
“Cyprus does not represent the whole of the island,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said. “Therefore laws on the issue enacted by the Greek Cypriot government or agreements made with other interested parties have no validity for us.”
It also said the will of the Turkish Cypriot people should be taken into consideration.
“Turkey is determined to protect its rights and interests in the eastern Mediterranean and will not allow attempts to erode them,” the statement added.
In a written statement the government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis said the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s comments were only an “unacceptable provocation’ but also a threat directed at Cyrpus, Lebanon and Egypt and by extension to peace and stability in the region.
He said the breakaway state in the north had no say in a case “which only the legal government of Cyprus can decide on”.
“A solution of the Cyprus problem to which the Foreign Ministry statement refers does not depend on drilling for oil or gas but from the good will of involved parties.
“This is what the Turkish side needs to prove instead of resorting to its favourite method of threats and blackmail.”
Cyprus signed an agreement on January 17 in Beirut delineating the exclusive economic zones between the two countries in a move that would allow the offshore oil and gas exploration to go ahead.
A similar deal was signed with Egypt in 2005 and the government also expects to negotiate with Syria.
The Israeli position on the issue is not clear. A spokesman at the embassy in Nicosia said yesterday it was a more complicated matter for Israel given its lack of diplomatic ties with many Arab countries, and particularly Lebanon.
“It’s not that we are not interested. It’s just that it’s much more complex for us,” said the spokesman.
Previous estimates put the worth of possible reserves in the sea between Cyprus, Lebanon and Egypt at around $400 billion. The government will start to receive bids for the exploration project next month.
Within days of the deal being signed with Lebanon, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said Turkish Cypriots and Turkey had “rights over Cyprus” and hinted strongly that the oil issue could be cause for war.
Talat backtracked somewhat yesterday, saying he had simply warned that the issue could “become bigger and more complex”. It was not a threat but a warning that it could increase tensions, he said.
However he repeated that Turkish Cypriot people held rights over “all natural resources of the island” and that they would never accept to hand them over.
The government has been cautious in its response to the Turkish threats.
Government Spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis said on Monday that a public debate on the issue was of no benefit to anyone.
“If Ankara has made strong or light representations to Lebanon, I understand that Lebanon itself will answer,” he said.
House President Demetris Christofias yesterday said the Turkish Cypriots would naturally be partners in a federal democracy and would share the benefits from any oil deposits found.
“The Turkish Cypriots are citizens of the Republic of Cyprus and they are our partners. This is true. Unfortunately, however, they do not participate in the governing of the Republic of Cyprus because they do not want to participate or because they are forced not to participate,” he said.
He said Ankara appeared to be behaving like an “occupation power” in the entire region. “This is an unacceptable stance and I wonder why it in fact remains unnoticed and without any representations from the UN,” Christofias said.
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