Turkey seeking expansion in wider Mediterranean says president

Turkey is clearly enacting its expansionary policy in the wider Mediterranean, President Nicos Anastasiades told Greek newspaper ‘Ta Nea’ on Saturday.

In an interview, Anastasiades said: “It is beyond obvious that Turkey is attempting in a dynamic manner to exercise its expansionary policy in the wider Mediterranean region, which is especially dangerous.”

He added Ankara, in its Memorandum of Understanding signed with Libya, was disputing in its entirety the UN Law of the Sea and seeking to impose its own arbitrary and unlawful interpretations of international law by means of blackmail.

“I would like to remind that the Republic of Cyprus has repeatedly invited Turkey to negotiate the sea borders between us, which they have rejected.”

He added the European Union and other countries in the area have taken measures against Turkey, and that Ankara would be unable to create a climate of doubt in the region.

Commenting on the stalled peace talks, Anastasiades said Turkey’s actions had been preventing talks over the past two years.

On Thursday, Cyprus, Greece and Israel signed an ‘historic’ agreement for the construction of the EastMed natural gas pipeline.

Reacting to the news, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said any project that ignored the rights of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots over natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean would fail.

“The most economical and secure route to utilise the natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean and deliver them to consumption markets in Europe, including our country, is Turkey,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.