Christofias: we will push on with gas exploration

PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias said yesterday the government would press ahead with plans for gas exploration regardless of opposition from Turkey.

The state is planning a major push into oil and gas exploration this year, but Turkey has repeatedly said the move could upset reunification talks for the island.

“It is the sovereign right of Cyprus to explore for natural gas. Turkey has no right, and nor does any other country, to tell us we do not have that right,” Christofias said, speaking at a news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Nicosia yesterday.

The island’s estimated hydrocarbon reserves have come into sharper focus after neighbouring Israel discovered two large offshore gas fields in an area which abuts Cypriot sea territory.

US company Noble has exploration rights over one Cypriot offshore block, while the government is planning to open more areas to exploration by the end of 2011.

“Unfortunately Turkey is making things difficult, is harassing us in our attempts (at exploration)… while at the same time wanting to open the energy chapter in its accession talks,” Christofias said.

Cyprus reported Turkey to the United Nations more than two years ago after what it said were Turkish gunboats harassing Cypriot-contracted exploration vessels. It was unclear if Christofias was referring to a new incident.

“This logic of the absurd, this gunboat diplomacy must end by Turkey if it wants to be a modern state which wants to join the EU,” Christofias said.

Energy is one of some 35 chapters, or policy areas, which Turkey must conclude before joining the EU. Only one has been completed, 12 remain under discussion and 18 have been frozen because of opposition by EU member states.

Although the unresolved Cyprus question is complicating Turkey’s EU entry talks launched five years ago, there is also resistance among EU member states, notably Germany and France.



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.