That was then: all smiles between Anastasiades and Eroğlu in February this year
GREEK CYPRUS threatened to block Turkey’s membership talks with the European Union this week as tensions rose over gas reserves off the Cypriot coast. The Turkish fuel ship Barbaros Hayrettin sailed into waters off the southern coast of Cyprus this week for gas exploration. Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Turkish prime minister, said his country “had the right to conduct seismic studies” in the area because of agreements it had signed with the Turkish-run North Cyprus. But the Greek-led government in the island’s south said the action was “illegal and provocative” infringement of its exclusive economic zone. Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, who is president of the Republic of Cyprus, was due to meet David Cameron on the fringes of Thursday’s European Council meeting in Brussels. A Republic of Cyprus spokesman said the situation was worse than the 1996 Kardak/Imia crisis, where Greece and Turkey backed away at the last minute from war over a small rocky island in the Aegean sea.
TALAT’S CAUTION AGAINST OPTIMISM
The situation is a stark contrast with the optimism shared by all sides in February, when peace talks were restarted after a two-year break. In a joint statement released at the time the Turkish Cypriot president Derviş Eroğlu and Mr Anastasiades had said they wanted a settlement based on “a united Cyprus within the European Union”. But the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’s second president Mehmet Ali Talat had warned against the prevalent optimistic mood. A cautious Mr Talat told Londra Gazete at the time: “Western nations do not want the tension that would emerge if Turkish Cypriots are excluded from the natural gas fields that were found [off the coast of Cyprus] last year.”
BRITISH MPs PROTEST
In a further development, a group of British MPs led by Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers joined Greek Cyprus in protesting Turkey’s gas exploration. In a statement published by the Famagusta Gazette, five Conservative MPs in London – David Burrowes, Nick de Bois, Matthew Offord and Mike Freer, in addition to Ms Villiers – said Turkey’s actions “can only raise tensions and make it harder to achieve [a] settlement”. Mr de Bois later told Londra Gazete that he had asked not be included in the statement protesting Turkey, but said he agreed with British government “concern” over the situation in Cyprus. Turkey’s prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Cyprus’s natural resources would be used by a unified Cyprus state following negotiations with Britain and “our neighbour and friend” Greece. But, he continued: “if, they say, ‘These resources belong to us and the north belongs to you,’ then we should seek alternative solutions together.”
