Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan PM of Turkey has discussed escalating crisis over oil and gas drilling in eastern Mediterranean in talks with his Greek counterpart Mr George Papandreou calling for restraint and calm as regional tensions rise over oil exploration.
Turkish government sources said that Mr Erdoğan told his Greek counterpart that exploration and exploitation of natural gas resources in seas surrounding the Cyprus island could be done only after Cypriot sides reach a comprehensive peace agreement in reunifying the long divided island, stressing that unilateral moves in drilling in the eastern Mediterranean could negatively affect the peace process between Turkish and Greek Cypriots.
A Greek government spokesman said that Papandreou called Mr Erdoğan and discussed bilateral relations along with rising regional tensions over oil drilling in eastern Mediterranean. Mr Papandreou said that there should be self-constraint and calm over Cyprus.
Meanwhile, Turkish oil exploration vessel Piri Reis left the Aegean port of İzmir on Friday to carry out surveys off northern Cyprus amid tensions with Greek Cypriots on the divided island over rights to hydrocarbon reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.
Regional tension rose after Cyprus's Greek Cypriot administration announced on Tuesday that drilling had begun in a southeast offshore area adjoining a gas field in Israeli waters reputed to be the world's largest find in the past decade.
Sources said that both Mr Erdoğan and Mr Papandreou exchanged views on unilateral exploration and drilling in eastern Mediterranean and that Mr Erdoğan told Mr Papandreou that Turkey signed a continental shelf agreement with Turkish Cyprus as a response to Greek Cypriots’ oil drilling activities.
Mr Erdoğan also talked about a proposal Turkish Cypriot President Mr Derviş Eroğlu presented to UN Secretary General last week on the peaceful solution of the matter.
Mr Eroğlu proposed the proposal to Ban on Saturday in New York which asked all sides to immediately halt oil and gas exploration until a comprehensive solution is found in Cyprus conflict. The proposal also noted that if it is impossible to stop the offshore drilling, then the conflicting parties should set up an ad hoc committee represented by envoys from the both Turkish and Greek Cypriots.
According to the proposal, Cypriot sides will use the income out of the drilling activities to finance the peace talks to reunify the island. The proposal also indicated that the plan should not harm the positions of both sides. Both leaders also discussed upcoming High Level Cooperation Council Meeting between the two countries and exchanged views on possible date of the meeting either on late October or mid November.
(Sourced from www.todayszaman.com)
