Turkey issues notice to mariners

Last Friday Turkey issued a notice to mariners (NAVTEX) advising that it was reserving areas south of Cyprus for seismic surveys from October 20 to December 30, the Cyprus Mail reported.

The surveys will be carried out by the Barbaros Hayreddin Pasa, a seismographic research vessel. However, the coordinates reserved under the notice, trespass into offshore blocks 1, 2, 3, 8 and 9 of Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Inside block 9, the area reserved by the Turkish advisory, directly borders, but does not overlap, the area where the Italian-Korean consortium ENI-KOGAS is currently conducting exploratory drilling for natural gas, on licence from the Republic of Cyprus.

It is the first time Turkey has reserved areas south of Cyprus. Prior advisories had reserved areas southwest of the island, also inside the EEZ. Moreover some of the locations, the Cyprus Mail was told, encroach into Cyprus’ territorial waters, as the reserved area stretches from off the coast of Famagusta, off the coast of Larnaca and reaching waters south of Limassol.

Though the Turkish NAVTEX does not overlap the area where ENI is currently operating, it could hamper future ENI operations at other locations within block 9, sources said.

“Essentially Turkey has bisected the region between Cyprus’ southern coast and Egypt, as if Cyprus does not exist,” the sources said.

Turkey does not recognise the republic nor Nicosia’s jurisdiction in the exploration area. Cyprus has concluded bilateral agreements with neighbouring countries – Israel, Egypt and Lebanon – delimiting their respective EEZs. The coordinates of the EEZs have been submitted to the United Nations. Cyprus and Turkey concluded no such EEZ agreements.

EEZ agreements fall under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), of which Turkey is not a signatory.

Of additional concern to Cyprus is Turkey’s stated intent – again for the first time explicitly – to conduct drilling operations for hydrocarbons south of the island.

On Saturday, on the back of the Turkish NAVTEX, the Turkish foreign ministry issued a press release denouncing the “Greek Cypriot Administration’s (GCA) continuing unilateral research activities of hydrocarbon resources in its so called Exclusive Economic Zone without taking into account the Turkish Cypriots’ detailed and concrete cooperation proposals for a fair sharing.”

The statement added: “Turkey calls on the international community to act in order to prevent the provocative and unilateral steps of the GCA. Until it is done, all kind of support to the TRNC’s future steps of conducting seismic research activities, acquiring a drilling platform and dispatching it to an area to be determined, which are necessary to protect its inherent rights over these resources, will be provided by us.”

Prior to that statement, the Turkish armed forces announced that the warship TCG Gelibolu would continue to monitor the activities of ENI’s drillship in block 9.

The TCG Gelibolu is participating in an ongoing Turkish Navy operation, dubbed ‘Mediterranean Shield’. Under ‘Mediterranean Shield’, Turkish ships are “conducting maritime security operations to provide for the safe and secure movement of vessels at sea and to deter terrorism”.

Anastasiades pulls out of talks

President Nicos Anastasiades has pulled out of talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu for the time being, the government announced yesterday, following a meeting with party leaders to decide on a response to Turkey’s announcement that it was reserving areas for seismic surveys south of the island and within Cyprus’ offshore blocks.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said the party leaders had accepted the recommendation of the president to suspend meetings between himself and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu and between chief negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Kudret Ozersay.

The two leaders were due to meet tomorrow Thursday and UN Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide was due on the island on Tuesday ahead of the meeting.

Cyprus’ government spokesman said: “It is clear that Turkish actions leave no other option to the Republic of Cyprus.”

He added that the president was in contact with European and other leaders to keep them informed on Turkish movements in the region. “We expect all states and especially our partners in the EU, and the permanent members of the UN Security Council to respond to the actions of Turkey,” he said.

Mountain out of a molehill?

After the cancellation of Thursday’s meeting between the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus and the UN Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide, the UN issued a statement saying that Eide would now be meeting separately with the leaders today.

“He will hold meetings with both leaders, their negotiators, leaders of political parties as well as with several other key interlocutors, discussing the way forward in the negotiations,” the UN statement said. He will be on the island until Friday.

The UN did not comment on the Greek Cypriot side’s decision but sources close to the negotiations told the Cyprus Mail that while he was on the island Eide would engage in ‘shuttle
 diplomacy’ with the two sides. “He wants them to keep their eyes on the prize,” said the sources. It is understood the UN does not want to become involved in the row as it sees its role as a facilitator rather than mediator in the negotiations and did not want to make a mountain out of what could yet be a molehill, according to the sources.

After meeting Anastasiades this morning, Eide urged the sides to avoid further escalation.

“I think it’s very important now that everybody acts responsibly and avoid further escalation and that we as soon as possible create an understanding that the oil and gas resources, as President Anastasiades has repeatedly stated, is for all Cypriots,” he told reporters afterwards.

“It’s a serious issue that we also see in all the parts of the world when you have maritime disputes. It illustrates one of the points that I have raised earlier in my presence here which is that oil and gas can be either a blessing or a curse. If it is well managed it will be a source of wealth for all Cypriots, if it becomes a source of tension it will be a problem for everyone and then it will be more of a curse than a solution.”

Eide is scheduled to meet with Eroglu later on Wednesday.

“I continue to talk to both sides about how to develop the ideas for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem,” he said. “I recognize that this is a very tense moment because the situation has become more complex given the developments at sea. But I also underline what I told you and both sides when I was here first that there are strategic reasons why status quo is utterly unacceptable.”

Eroglu says Greek Cypriots are ignoring the rights of the Turkish Cypriots

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said the decision to suspend the negotiations on the grounds that the sovereignty of the Republic was being violated was “incompatible with the realities of the Cyprus problem” and was an expression of the Greek Cypriot side’s determination to ignore the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people.

Eroglu said that before leaving for the UN General Assembly in New York last month, he had asked Anasatasiades to suspend the planned operations in Block 9 of the island’s EEZ for a short time, but was ignored. The Greek Cypriot side, he said, was responsible for what had happened with Turkey because it had ignored warnings and suggestions.

Eroglu said he had proposed the creation of a joint committee on hydrocarbons and that the Turkish Cypriot side had been ready to discuss giving water to the south of the island from Turkey.

Anastasiades had used the activity of the Turkish navy as an excuse to break off the talks, Eroglu claimed, adding that the rights of the Turkish Cypriots would be protected with the full support of Ankara.

Decision prompts rare moment of political unity

The suspension of the talks produced a rare moment of unity between the government and the political parties yesterday but a few parties couldn’t resist a dig at why Cyprus’ ‘turn to the West’ had been met with a deafening silence in the face of Turkey’s actions in the island’s EEZ.
 All of the opposition parties were probably happy that an excuse had arisen to pull out of the negotiations, the Cyprus Mail reports.


President: I had no other choice

President Nicos Anastasiades said last night Turkey’s actions in the island’s Exclusive Economic Zone had left him with no choice but to withdraw from the peace talks after reaching a consensus with the political parties.

Meetings between chief negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Kudret Ozersay were also cancelled, the Cyprus Mail reports.

“I am really saddened that due to the developments I was compelled to decide on the suspension of my participation in the talks,” Anastasiades said in a written statement responding to comments earlier in the day by Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.

However, he said, at a time when the Greek Cypriot side was proposing measures for building confidence in order to create a new momentum, Turkey, “ignoring the benefits that she herself would have from the solution of the Cyprus problem” was carrying out actions that flagrantly violated the sovereignty of the Republic, strongly undermining efforts to find a solution for all Cypriots.

Anastasiades said however that he had repeatedly stated that the natural wealth of Cyprus belonged to the state and that the achievement of a solution would help the entire population of Cyprus benefit “on the basis of population ratios”.

International response lukewarm

Despite a unanimous decision by the party leaders and the government during their meeting at the palace yesterday to call on the UN, the US, the EU and the UK to put pressure on Turkey, for the most part, the island’s ‘strategic partners’ were reticent to criticise Ankara, the Cyprus Mail says.

On Monday, the US said that while Cyprus had the sovereign right to develop its resources in its EEZ, Washington continued to believe that the natural gas and oil reserves of the island, as well as all its resources, “must be fairly shared between the two communities in the framework of a comprehensive settlement”.

Last night Britain, through a Foreign Office spokesman, told the Cyprus News Agency the incident, which had raised tensions in the region, was regrettable, and though London recognised the sovereignty of Cyprus over its EEZ, “this incident underlines the importance of a comprehensive settlement”.

“We therefore hope that settlement talks can progress successfully. There is an opportunity for Turkey to continue to demonstrate the positive role that it can play in supporting the prospects for a settlement,” he added.

In addition to pulling out of the talks, the Greek Cypriot side was said to be considering other actions involving the international community that reportedly include official complaints to the UN Security Council, the EU, and the European Parliament, writing letters to US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, attempting to freeze Turkey’s EU accession chapters, and studying legal ways to counter Turkey’s violation of the EEZ.

But so far only Greece has taken any concrete steps, making a strong demarche to Turkey’s ambassador in Athens, and summoning him to the foreign ministry in Athens.

Political analyst James Ker-Lindsay told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the international community’s position was that Cyprus is sovereign. “But to them there is a difference between what Cyprus is legally entitled to do and what is the sensible thing to do,” he said. “Sabre rattling can get out of hand quickly. Turkey is serious. The second Turkey starts this they are committed. These are not idle threats.”

Ker-Lindsay said Turkey could not allow a small country like Cyprus to make it look weak, even though Cyprus has every right not to be intimidated and to be able to exploit its full sovereignty.

“I don’t have a lot of truck with the Turkish Cypriots on this. They expect Greek Cypriots to live with the consequences of the invasion while their argument on this is about sharing after having issued their own declaration of independence,” he said.

Ozersay removed as negotiator

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu has removed his side’s negotiator Kudret Ozersay because of the latter’s intention to run for leader at the forthcoming elections.

Ozersay had announced his intention earlier this month in an interview with daily Kibris.

He said he was motivated by the desire to show courage and a real will to make changes.

Empty rhetoric will not curtail Turkey

An editorial in the Cyprus Mail says that Turkey’s maritime advisory was aimed at unnerving the Cyprus government and it appears to have achieved its objective. In the last two days, the government spokesman and the foreign minister have been making strongly worded public statements, giving the impression that the government is at a loss over what to do.

When our politicians are faced with an awkward, difficult-to-handle issue, they resort to brave rhetoric and threats, under the illusion that this will reassure the public and give the impression that they are in control of the situation. Perhaps they feel obliged to react in this way because this is what the media and the hard-line parties demand. If there were no knee-jerk public reaction, newspaper commentators and opposition politicians would accuse the government of not defending our national interests and sovereignty.

It’s as if the only way to defend the country’s interests is through grandstanding and defiant rhetoric geared for domestic consumption. Such sensitive issues are not resolved by playing to the gallery but through diplomacy and consultations behind closed doors. In this case, the government could have issued a two-sentence statement, expressing dissatisfaction over Turkey’s action, and subsequently engaged in consultations with foreign governments seeking help or advice over how to proceed. The threat of quitting the negotiations could have been raised with foreign ambassadors and the UN instead of being turned into a public issue.