Turkish and Turkish-Cypriot warships staged search-and-rescue drills off the
island of Cyprus yesterday amid tensions over a disputed search for oil and
gas.
The frigate Gemlik and other vessels took part in the maneuvers off the
northern town of Famagusta, which included extinguishing fire on a ship,
rescuing illegal migrants from a sinking rubber boat and rescuing the crew of a
sea plane in distress.
Turkish-Cypriot military officials denied the maneuvers were a show of force,
but it comes amid a rekindled dispute with Greek Cypriots over who is entitled
to the island's potential offshore oil and gas wealth.
Turkey does not recognize European Union member Cyprus as a sovereign country
and strongly objects to a Greek-Cypriot search for mineral deposits inside the
island's exclusive economic zone. That area covers 51,000 square kilometers
(17,000 square miles) of seabed off the island's southern coast.
Turkey has warned Cyprus against pursuing «adventurist policies» and says
Turkish Cypriots should also have a say in how the island's oil-and-gas rights
are used.
Cyprus government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said Tuesday the search for
fossil fuels inside the island's zone remains its sovereign right and it is
protesting the military drills at the UN and EU. But Stefanou said both
communities could share in the possible bounty if ongoing reunification talks
prove successful.
Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali
Talat restarted stalled peace talks last September, but have yet to reach a
breakthrough in the slow-moving process.
'Motivating factor'
«This is an additional motivating factor... to continue negotiations so that
we can reach a just, viable and functional settlement, to reunify our homeland,»
Stefanou said.
The involvement of US energy firm Noble Energy, which is set to launch
seismic work inside Cyprus's zone later this year, could further complicate
matters for Turkey, a US ally.
Cyprus has licensed Noble to search for fossil fuels near two significant gas
discoveries in its Israeli offshore blocks.
US authorities are siding with the Cypriot government, saying «the
involvement of US firms in such investment is a business decision, not a
political one.» Cyprus has also signed agreements with Lebanon and Egypt to mark
out undersea borders to facilitate future oil and gas exploration, prompting
Turkey to urge those two countries to scrap the deals.
Turkey's stakes in the dispute are higher as Cyprus has threatened to further
impede Turkey's EU accession negotiations because Turkish warships had
interfered with an offshore fossil fuel survey last year.
Nicosia lodges complaints at UN and EU
NICOSIA (AFP) - The Cyprus government said yesterday that it has protested to
the United Nations and European Union over Turkish search-and-rescue exercises
in the breakaway north of the divided island. The government said that the
three-day maneuvers, which began on Tuesday and involve both Turkish-Cypriot and
Turkish forces, were a breach of its internationally recognized sovereignty over
the entire Mediterranean island.
«Certainly the onus is on us to denounce such violations and illegalities and
we have lodged our protests,» government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou told
reporters. «The crux of the matter is that Turkey continues to violate the air
space and territorial waters of the Cyprus Republic,» he added.
The spokesman said the exercises in the northeastern Karpas peninsula could
be linked to Cyprus's search for oil in offshore waters which Turkey is strongly
opposed to.
(from "KATHIMERINI" newspaper, 18/06/2009)