Provocative statements of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davudoglu

 

Statement of Toumazos Tsielepis, Head of the Cyprus problem Office of the C.C. of AKEL, member of the Political Bureau of AKEL

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 2nd October 2014, Nicosia

 

The new provocative statements of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davudoglu illustrate that Turkey is not only not contributing towards defusing the crisis which it has itself created, but on the contrary, it is constantly escalating the tension.
Turkey, with mentalities reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire, is behaving as if we do not exist and unashamedly invoking International Law bound even regions of the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus opposite our southern coasts. Even its so-called agreement with the pseudo-state for the delineation of the continental shelf, which Mr. Davudoglu is invoking and from the point of view of International Law too is worth as much as the paper it is written on, does not cover the regions where the surveys of the Turkish vessel “Barbarossa” are being conducted.

We are the first to acknowledge, and we don’t need Turkey to it point out to us, that the Turkish Cypriots also have rights to the natural gas However, it cannot be demanded from the Republic of Cyprus to abandon its sovereign rights. In effect, the only realistic way for the Turkish Cypriots as well to enjoy the benefits from the natural gas is through the solution of our political problem.

We therefore recall that although the issue of the hydrocarbons was never subject of the inter-communal talks, but among the Christofias-Talat convergences, in the federal competences incorporated in all the maritime zones without exception, their delineation with neighbouring states and the solution of disputes. It was agreed that they would all be done in line with the UN Law of the Sea. In addition, it was also agreed that the natural resources, therefore natural gas as well, would constitute a federal competency. In combination with the convergence on the distribution of federal revenues, that will also include the revenues from natural gas, it is evident that with the solution of the Cyprus problem all the aspects concerning the issue of the hydrocarbons will be agreed upon.

Therefore, we call on Turkey, instead of throwing oil to the fire, to work to defuse the crisis which it has itself provoked so that the negotiation procedure can resume and we can arrive at a solution as soon as possible, if Turkey is genuinely concerned about the interests of the Turkish Cypriots and not about its own expansionist designs.