President Erdoğan says he will not let natural reserves be exploited by Greek Cypriots

A showdown over natural gas and oil deposits in the seas off Cyprus is set to intensify, with Turkey announcing it is to send a drilling ship to the region days after the US energy company ExxonMobil dispatched its own survey vessels to the area.

As tensions flare over the potential spoils off the divided island, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has declared he will not tolerate the prospect of reserves being exploited by Greek Cypriots at a time when his country is engaged in conflicts elsewhere, not least against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.



Last month, Turkish warships were ordered to prevent drilling operations by ENI, an Italian energy company commissioned by Cyprus’s government, in what was seen as a brazen act of brinkmanship.

Turkey argues the self-proclaimed Turkish republic of Northern Cyprus should also be allowed to exploit the offshore wealth, claiming that areas designated for drilling fall under Ankara’s maritime jurisdiction or that of the Turkish Cypriots.



“Hopefully it has been instructive for some who saw an opportunity to act unilaterally when Turkey is engaged in anti-terrorism operations elsewhere,” Erdoğan said of the gunboat diplomacy on Tuesday, adding that Ankara would be deploying its own newly acquired drillship to the waters off Cyprus imminently.



The sabre-rattling is causing growing concern. Optimism had mounted over the east Mediterranean’s potential as a gas-producing hub after geological surveys pointed to vast reserves around Cyprus. If unlocked, the resources could reshape energy geopolitics, transforming the region economically and lessening Europe’s – and Turkey’s – dependence on Russia for gas.

“Our approach is to keep calm and go on,” the Cypriot government spokesman, Prodromos Prodromou, told the Guardian. “We cannot accept Turkey interfering and creating problems in what, as underlined by the EU, is a sovereign right to exploit our natural wealth.”

As ExxonMobil’s two ships began work, Wess Mitchell, the US state department official in charge of American policy in Europe, visited Nicosia for talks. Four foreign energy firms have been licensed to explore for oil and gas in areas off Cyprus’ southern coast.

But euphoria over an energy bonanza has run up against old enmities and the failure to reunite the island – divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a coup aimed at creating a union with Greece.

“We are heading for a full-blown crisis in the eastern Mediterranean,” said Hubert Faustmann, professor of political science at the University of Nicosia. “And that is because Turkey is determined not to allow exploitation of any resources without its consent and participation of Turkish Cypriots.”

Talks aimed at uniting Cyprus’s feuding communities collapsed last summer and it had been hoped discovery of hydrocarbons would help re-energise negotiations. The island’s president, Nicos Anastasiades, insists the offshore wealth will be shared by both communities once a solution is reached. But many now fear worse is to come.

The brinkmanship coincides with already strained relations between Greece and Turkey. Warning foreign energy companies not to “overstep the mark” last month, Erdoğan said Ankara would be prepared to take military action, just as it had done in Syria, if required.

“We recommend that foreign companies operating in Cypriot waters not trust the Greek [Cypriot] side and become a tool for business that exceeds their place and powers,” he said. “The Greeks and Greek Cypriots would stop swaggering when they saw the Turkish military with its ships and warplanes approaching.”

Erdoğan, whose Islamist AKP movement has teamed up with the nationalist MHP party in the run-up to the elections, has increasingly spoken of the need to protect Turkey from its “bad neighbours”, triggering fears among western diplomats in Athens, Ankara and Nicosia that tensions will be further stoked over Cyprus.

Despite drawing a strong rebuke from the EU, which says it is the island republic’s sovereign right to exploit the resources, the Turkish government appears unfazed by criticism of its gunboat diplomacy. Several weeks after warships sabotaged ENI’s drilling efforts, Turkey’s prime minister, Binali Yıldırım, repeated that “provocative actions will be met with the appropriate response”.

“There is a real danger of a Turkish confrontation with international drill ships,” said John Roberts, energy security specialist at the Atlantic Council. “The Turkish government does not recognise the government of Cyprus in the way the rest of the world does and that means its does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus has an exclusive economic [maritime] zone. If it pursues this argument to its logical end, it will use force to keep uninvited visitors at bay, which would put it at odds not only with the EU but partners in Nato.”

The best way to resolve the crisis speedily, he said, was for Anastasiades to come to some agreement that whatever is found is shared equitably. Even if extracted, experts have cautioned that it may take decades for the offshore resources to be commercialised at a time when markets are flooded by cheap gas. But in a region riven with competing claims over maritime boundaries, the spectre of Cyprus teaming up with Egypt and Israel to become an alternate supply hub has further incensed Turkey, itself keen to remain a major transit hub.

Egypt, which has the eastern Mediterranean’s biggest gas reserves, and has signed a key agreement with Cyprus, has also exchanged angry barbs with Ankara. With some fearing Ankara could take on ExxonMobil, officials have sought to downplay the prospect of the two survey ships running into trouble. Addressing reporters, the US ambassador to Nicosia, Kathleen Doherty, said activity would be limited to environmental and archaeological research in an area south-west of Cyprus.

Exploratory drilling – which Ankara has vowed to stop – would follow later this year. “I sincerely hope that both sides use that time to find a way to resume negotiations to reunify the island,” she said. </s> A showdown over natural gas and oil deposits in the seas off Cyprus is set to intensify, with Turkey announcing it is to send a drilling ship to the region days after the US energy company ExxonMobil dispatched its own survey vessels to the area.

As tensions flare over the potential spoils off the coast of the divided island, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has declared he will not tolerate the prospect of reserves being exploited by Greek Cypriots at a time when his country is engaged in conflicts elsewhere, not least against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.



Last month, Turkish warships were ordered to prevent drilling operations by ENI, an Italian energy company commissioned by Cyprus’s government, in what was seen as a brazen act of brinkmanship.

Turkey argues the self-proclaimed Turkish republic of Northern Cyprus should also be allowed to exploit the region, although others claim that areas designated for drilling fall under Ankara’s maritime jurisdiction or that of the Turkish Cypriots.

“Hopefully it has been instructive for some who saw an opportunity to act unilaterally when Turkey is engaged in anti-terrorism operations elsewhere,” Erdoğan said on Tuesday, adding that Ankara would be deploying its own newly acquired drillship to the waters off Cyprus imminently.

The sabre-rattling is causing growing concern. Optimism had mounted over the region’s potential as a gas-producing hub after geological surveys pointed to vast reserves around Cyprus. If unlocked, the resources could reshape energy geopolitics, transforming the region economically and lessening Europe’s – and Turkey’s – dependence on Russia for gas.

“Our approach is to keep calm and go on,” said a Cypriot government spokesman, Prodromos Prodromou. “We cannot accept Turkey interfering and creating problems in what, as underlined by the EU, is a sovereign right to exploit our natural wealth.”

As ExxonMobil’s two ships began work, Wess Mitchell, the US state department official in charge of American policy in Europe, visited Nicosia for talks.

But euphoria over an energy bonanza has run up against old enmities and the failure to reunite the island – divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a coup aimed at creating a union with Greece.

“We are heading for a full-blown crisis in the eastern Mediterranean,” said Hubert Faustmann, professor of political science at the University of Nicosia. “And that is because Turkey is determined not to allow exploitation of any resources without its consent and participation of Turkish Cypriots.” </s> For the last month and a half, tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean have escalated due to unilateral moves from Greek Cyprus, which has been commissioning Western energy companies to explore hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean in an area it declared its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). However, Ankara's reactions and measures in the area have prevented these moves since it consider them to be a violation of the sovereign rights of Turkish Cyprus. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated Turkey's determination to continue protecting its and Turkish Cyprus's rights to natural resources in the region at a ceremony in Ankara Tuesday.

Greek Cyprus has been trying to exclude Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Turkey, which has been conducting seismic surveys in the area and exercising its legal rights in accordance with international maritime law. The government in the south of the island last month commissioned Italian energy company ENI, which declared the discovery of a potentially sizable gas field off the southwestern coast close to Egypt's Zohr deposit, which is the largest-ever discovered in the Mediterranean. However, Turkey immediately deployed warships to the region and prevented the Italian energy firm from continuing its operations in the region. As a result, ENI's drilling vessel left the area.

The disregard for Turkish Cyprus's rights in the region did not stop with the ENI vessel. Following the Turkish Navy's blockade of ENI, early in March, vessels from U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil and state-owned Qatar Petroleum consortium were reported to have arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean to conduct offshore drilling activities.

Speaking during an inauguration ceremony to launch natural gas services for 101 districts at the Presidential Palace complex in Ankara, Erdoğan said that Turkey's recent stance regarding offshore drilling activities off Cyprus "had hopefully been instructive for some who saw an opportunity to start unilateral moves in the region when Turkey is engaged in anti-terrorism operations elsewhere."

All steps in the waters surrounding Cyprus should be taken through the participation of both Turkish and Greek parties, including investments and the share of discovered resources, Erdoğan said.

"Turkish and Greek Cyprus should form a joint committee for drilling activities and both sides should get their fair share of the island's natural resources based on their populations," the president said. He further reiterated Turkey's resolution to protect its and Turkish Cyprus's rights in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially in terms of hydrocarbons.

he also announced that Turkey's first drilling vessel, which has the most cutting-edge technology in its field of operation with a width of 36 meters and a weight of 51 gross tons, will soon depart to start drilling operations in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Greek Cypriot coup took place after decades of violence against the island's Turkish community and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power. It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including the latest initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the U.K. that collapsed in 2017.

In order to decrease its dependency on external resources and to meet rising energy demand as a result of steady economic growth, Turkey has been carrying out energy investments and projects and diversifying its resources. Over the past 15 years, energy investments have reached TL 172 billion ($43.8 billion) and public investments totaled TL 41.3 billion. Investments in natural gas distribution was TL 11.2 billion.

Erdoğan, Putin to attend groundbreaking ceremony of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant

Erdoğan said that Turkey aims to reduce its energy dependency, and the construction of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, the country's first, will begin this year.

"President [Vladimir] Putin and I will jointly participate in the groundbreaking ceremony," Erdoğan said, explaining that they also spoke about it during a phone call to congratulate Putin's on his re-election in Russia on Monday.

Erdoğan and Putin are expected to meet in Turkey in the first week of April. The two leaders will chair the seventh meeting of the Turkish-Russian High-Level Cooperation Council.

Later, the two presidents will reportedly lay the foundation for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, which will cost an estimated $20 billion.

The first unit of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, which will have four reactors, will be launched in 2023, while the other units will be commissioned one by one in the following years. Accordingly, the plant will reach full capacity in 2026.

With four reactors, each with an installed capacity of 200 megawatts, the plant will generate an average of 35 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually when it reaches 4,800 megawatts.

Another nuclear power plant project is currently underway in Turkey's Black Sea province of Sinop, and the project is run by a French-Japanese consortium. The Sinop nuclear power plant will have a 4,480-megawatt capacity.

Turkey's energy imports amount to roughly $55 billion annually and its energy demand is among the fastest-growing in Europe. Ankara aims for at least 10 percent of its power generation to come from nuclear energy in less than a decade to cut dependency on natural gas. </s> Cyprus and Turkey had a brief spat over natural gas reserves in the Mediterranean over the weekend, with Turkish officials escorting Eni’s drilling ship away from sensitive waters, according to a new report by Shephard Media.

Cypriot officials are claiming the act violated international law because the forced move constituted military activity in the disputed area.

“We are keeping calm in order to avoid any crisis and taking all diplomatic steps necessary so that finally Cyprus' sovereign rights can be respected,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, said. “We are handling the situation by trying to avoid anything that could worsen the situation without ignoring the fact that Turkey's actions are in breach of international law.”

Turkey and Cyprus have faced-off regarding natural resources in the Mediterranean in the past, especially because of Ankara’s ongoing argument that the northern portion of the island belongs to Turkey.

The Turkish foreign ministry’s statement of the unfolding of events over the weekend reflects the vigor of the territorial claims made in 1974, during the Turkish invasion of the island nation, now a member of the European Union.

“[Cyprus conducts] unilateral hydrocarbon-related activities in disregard of the inalienable rights on natural resources of the Turkish Cypriot people, who are the co-owners of the Island,” the statement read. “This unconstructive Greek Cypriot attitude also constitutes a major obstacle to the settlement of the Cyprus issue.”

Cyprus has been in the news for its gas discoveries over the past weeks, raising Turkish eyebrows over exploitation of waters that could be considered Ankara-ruled after the border issue is resolved. Supermajors Eni and Total have made a promising gas discovery offshore Cyprus last week that confirms that the Zohr-like play, where Eni found the biggest gas deposit in the Mediterranean offshore Egypt, extends into the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone, the Italian group said. Eni has made a lean gas discovery in Block 6 offshore Cyprus, encountering an extended gas column with “excellent reservoir characteristics.” </s> BRUSSELS (AP) - European Union leaders are set to condemn Turkey's efforts to stop natural gas exploration off Cyprus ahead of a meeting next week between top EU officials and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a draft statement, seen by The Associated Press, they call on Turkey "to cease these actions and respect the sovereign rights of Cyprus to explore and exploit its natural resources in accordance with EU and international law."

Last month, Turkish warships blocked a rig from reaching an area southeast of Cyprus where Italian company Eni was scheduled to drill.

Ankara said it would prevent any further drilling off Cyprus without the direct involvement of the ethnically divided island's breakaway Turkish Cypriots.

The EU leaders, meeting in Brussels Thursday, urged Turkey to normalize ties with Cyprus. </s> Cyprus on Sunday insisted Turkey had breached "international law" after Ankara's warships blocked an Italian drilling ship on course to explore for gas in the island's politically sensitive waters.

Italy's energy giant ENI told the Cyprus News Agency its vessel was ordered to stop by Turkish ships Friday over "military activities in the destination area" as it sailed to begin explorations in block 3 of Cyprus's exclusive economic zone.

Turkey and the Greek Cypriot-majority republic have sparred over resources in the eastern Mediterranean, with Ankara pushing the claim of the unrecognised statelet it backs on the north of the divided island.

"We are keeping calm in order to avoid any crisis and taking all diplomatic steps necessary so that finally the Republic of Cyprus' sovereign rights can be respected," President Nicos Anastasiades told reporters Sunday.

"We are handling the situation by trying to avoid anything that could worsen the situation without ignoring the fact that Turkey's actions are in breach of international law," he added.

However, Turkey's foreign ministry lashed out at Cyprus over the "unilateral hydrocarbon-related activities" by the European Union's most easterly member.

"It does so in disregard of the inalienable rights on natural resources of the Turkish Cypriot people, who are the co-owners of the Island," a statement said.

"This unconstructive Greek Cypriot attitude also constitutes a major obstacle to the settlement of the Cyprus issue."

The island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third in response to a coup sponsored by the military junta then ruling Greece.

Cyprus announced on Thursday that exploratory drilling by Italy's ENI and France's Total had found extensive gas reserves elsewhere off the island in a major breakthrough in its hunt for resources.

Cyprus has signed deals with a range of firms for exploratory drilling, with US giant ExxonMobil also planning two drills in the second half of 2018.

The dispute over resources in the Mediterranean is another complicating factor in efforts to reunify the island after negotiations on the 44-year feud collapsed in acrimony last year.

Turkey and Cyprus are not the only countries at odds over resources in the eastern Mediterranean, with Israel and Lebanon also feuding over competing claims. </s> EU Affairs Minister Ömer Çelik on Friday criticized statements from EU leaders that Turkey is illegally blocking the exploration of a potential natural gas field off the island of Cyprus.

"The statement released by EU leaders is not acceptable for Turkey," Çelik said. He added that it was the EU that accused Greek Cyprus and Greece because of the failed Crans-Montana negotiations to resolve the problem of the ethnically split island last year. He also cited the constructive and benign approach Turkey will adopt during Turkey-EU summit scheduled to take place on March 26.

EU leaders released a statement on Thursday that said Turkey is continuing illegal actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea.

The EU "urgently calls on Turkey to cease these actions and respect the sovereign rights of Cyprus to explore and exploit its natural resources," the statement said.

EU leaders in Brussels discussed relations with Turkey in light of the upcoming summit, with Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras speaking on recent concerns.

Greek Cyprus has been trying to exclude Turkish Cyprus and Turkey, which has been conducting seismic surveys in the area and exercising its legal rights in accordance with international maritime law. The government in the south of the island last month commissioned Italian energy company ENI, which declared the discovery of a potentially sizable gas field off the southwestern coast close to Egypt's Zohr deposit, which is the largest-ever discovered in the Mediterranean. However, Turkey immediately deployed warships to the region and prevented the Italian energy firm from continuing its operations in the region. As a result, ENI's drilling vessel left the area. The disregard for Turkish Cyprus's rights in the region did not stop with the ENI vessel. Following the Turkish Navy's blockade of ENI, early in March, vessels from U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil and state-owned Qatar Petroleum consortium were reported to have arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean to conduct offshore drilling activities.

The issue has reignited old tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 into a predominantly Greek south, which is an EU member, and a Turkish north whose sovereignty is only recognized by Ankara. </s> BRUSSELS — European Union leaders are set to condemn Turkey’s efforts to stop natural gas exploration off Cyprus ahead of a meeting next week between top EU officials and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a draft statement, seen by The Associated Press, they call on Turkey “to cease these actions and respect the sovereign rights of Cyprus to explore and exploit its natural resources in accordance with EU and international law.”

Last month, Turkish warships blocked a rig from reaching an area southeast of Cyprus where Italian company Eni was scheduled to drill.

Ankara said it would prevent any further drilling off Cyprus without the direct involvement of the ethnically divided island’s breakaway Turkish Cypriots.

The EU leaders, meeting in Brussels Thursday, urged Turkey to normalize ties with Cyprus. </s> BRUSSELS — European Union leaders are set to condemn Turkey's efforts to stop natural gas exploration off Cyprus ahead of a meeting next week between top EU officials and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a draft statement, seen by The Associated Press, they call on Turkey "to cease these actions and respect the sovereign rights of Cyprus to explore and exploit its natural resources in accordance with EU and international law."

Last month, Turkish warships blocked a rig from reaching an area southeast of Cyprus where Italian company Eni was scheduled to drill.

Ankara said it would prevent any further drilling off Cyprus without the direct involvement of the ethnically divided island's breakaway Turkish Cypriots.

The EU leaders, meeting in Brussels Thursday, urged Turkey to normalize ties with Cyprus.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asserts his nation will secure Northern Cyprus' access to natural hydrocarbon resources off the Cypriot coast. The comments come amid disputes as to sovereign rights and access to offshore resources on the island.