Cyprus Talks won’t resume while Turkey blocks way

Talks to reunite Cyprus cannot resume while Turkey blockades the Saipem 12000 drillship offshore the island, South Cyprus officials have said.

Greek Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades has met with the UN special representative Elizabeth Spehar in Nicosia to raise the issue and discuss next steps after the peace talks collapsed in Switzerland last summer.

The president again conveyed, that depending on developments, he is ready to take more concrete initiatives provided we are not experiencing such behaviour in the republic’s exclusive economic zone, the south’s government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides told reporters.

You can not hold negotiations and at the same time have such movements in the EEZ, Christodoulides added.

Spehar said that Anastasiades “expressed his concerns with respect to what is happening with the hydrocarbons issue. These are concerns that we understand and which we are conveying to New York.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned foreign energy companies not to “overstep the mark” in the eastern Mediterranean after Turkish warships blocked the Italian drilling vessel.

The standoff over exploiting energy resources in the region risks further complicating stalled efforts to reunify Cyprus.

Daily Star