Europe warns Turkey about gas exploration in the Mediterranean

The European Union (EU) continues to exert pressure on Turkey over the controversial drilling of gas in waters considered to belong to Cyprus and accuses the Turkish state of provoking an escalation of tension in the Mediterranean arc.

The EU has on several occasions urged Turkey to stop its gas explorations off the island of Cyprus, considering them illegal because they violate the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus, a member state of the EU bloc itself.

Earlier this year, Europe imposed an asset freeze and an entry ban on two Turkish citizens involved in the reported operations, but Ankara insists on defiance and the pursuit of control of energy sources in the waters of the eastern Mediterranean. 

"We regret that Turkey has not yet responded to the European Union's repeated calls to cease these activities and we reiterate our call on Turkey to show restraint, refrain from such actions and respect the sovereignty and sovereign rights of Cyprus," the 27 EU foreign ministers said in a joint statement after Friday's talks. 

The ministers acknowledged positively the Cypriot efforts to engage in dialogue on this thorny issue, but noted that "the recent escalation of actions by Turkey unfortunately goes in the opposite direction". 

The Turkish ship Yavuz has been drilling off Cyprus for some time now, and Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Thursday that the drilling would not stop. "Turkey is continuing its drilling and seismic activities in the eastern Mediterranean without any pause," Donmez told the Turkish state news agency Anadolu just last Thursday. 

This dispute stems from the moment when rich deposits of gas were detected on the seabed in waters claimed by both Cyprus and Turkey. The Ottoman nation headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan says its energy activity respects international law and has argued that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (a country not officially recognized internationally) should have a share in the profits.

In this regard, the island of Cyprus continues to experience a problem of division between the Turkish Cypriot north and the Greek Cypriot south. The territory was divided in two in 1974, when Turkey intervened in response to the coup d'état that sought the island's annexation to Greece, and this separation continues. The Republic of Cyprus controls the south and is the only internationally recognized entity, being a member in addition to the EU since 2004; while in the north the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was proclaimed, only recognized by Turkey, a country on which they depend for their survival. 

In this scenario, the Greek Cypriot government sealed agreements in recent years with Egypt, Israel and Lebanon to delimit their exclusive economic zone, within the framework of which it has already granted various exploration and drilling licenses. Meanwhile, from the Turkish Cypriot side, their rights are considered to be violated by not being taken into consideration when initialling such important international agreements. The pro-Greek Executive pointed out that the benefits of these gas agreements will be felt by the Turkish Cypriots once the reunification pact is reached, something that seems to be very far away because all attempts in that direction have failed over time. 

For his part, Recep Tayyip Erdogan reached an agreement at the end of last year with Fayez Sarraj, president of the Libyan National Accord Government (GNA), whom he supports in the war conflict that confronts the Libyan National Army (LNA) of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, to support it in the Libyan war and in the sharing of exclusive economic zones in the eastern Mediterranean that are in conflict with Greece and Cyprus, nations that denounced the alleged illegal incursion of this Turkish-Libyan pact in waters belonging to the nearby Greek islands. The Greek authorities denounced this agreement on maritime borders as being contrary to international law.