Turkey, Egypt agree to discuss oil crisis in Mediterranean

Turkish and Egyptian foreign ministers agreed to set up delegations to discuss an Egyptian-Greek Cypriot deal that paves the way for oil and gas exploration by Greek Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean, diplomatic sources said yesterday. The agreement came during a meeting between FM Abdullah Gul and his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abdul Gheit.

In 2005, Egypt signed a deal with Greek Cyprus to delineate their undersea borders in the Mediterranean and the limits of Greek Cyprus’ continental shelf. Greek Cyprus signed a similar accord with Lebanon earlier this year. Turkey, which opposes the Greek Cypriot oil and gas exploration plans, warned the two countries to stop the agreements, saying Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots also had legitimate rights and interests in the region.Gul, speaking to reporters before his meeting with Gheit in Islamabad, on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers from seven Muslim countries to discuss the Middle East, lashed out at the Greek Cypriot bid, saying it was a “big provocation.”
“This is a very serious matter. I am sure that the whole of Europe, NATO and coastal countries in the Mediterranean have seen that this is a big provocation and how dangerous such initiatives could be without a comprehensive settlement in the island.”
Ankara doesn’t recognize the Greek Cypriot-Egyptian and Greek Cypriot-Lebanese accords as, according to the international law, both sea boundaries between countries and limits of the continental shelf of each country need to be delineated via consensus among all coastal and neighboring countries when the issue is a semi-closed sea like the East Mediterranean, but not an ocean. A meeting of all coastal states on exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean, however, is unlikely because of ongoing disputes between some of the states concerned.
The crisis deepened when Greek Cyprus ignored warnings from Turkey and launched an international licensing round for offshore exploration of oil and gas earlier this month. During a visit to Greece last week, Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos secured support from Athens.
The Egyptian foreign minister, who met Gul at the Turkish Embassy in Islamabad, assured that Egypt would not undertake any action that would harm Turkey’s national interests.

Zaman