Cypress Could Be New Flashpoint

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer

The island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean has been a bone of contention between Greece and Turkey for decades.

Independent from Great Britain since 1960, for the past 37 years it has been divided between a self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a state recognized only by its patron Turkey, and a southern Republic of Cyprus, governed by Greek Cypriots, which claims sovereignty over the entire island.

The capital, Nicosia, is also partitioned between the two entities. But as far as the United Nations and other international bodies are concerned, the Greek Cypriot government is the legitimate ruler of the island.

Indeed, the Greek Cypriot state has since 2004 been a member of the European Union, despite its unwillingness to grant concessions to the Turkish population in the north, and so keeping the island split in two.

Now, thanks to Turkey’s new assertiveness, the already troubled island is being dragged into the Middle East conflict.

The Greek Cypriot government has licensed U.S.-based Noble Energy Inc. to search for oil and gas near recently-discovered Israeli offshore fields that contain more than 450 billion cubic metres of natural gas. The distance by sea between Cyprus and Israel is about 200 kilometres.

Israel and the Republic of Cyprus last December signed an agreement defining their maritime border, thus allowing them both to search for energy sources in the eastern Mediterranean. Noble Energy began exploratory drilling for offshore oil and gas deposits off Cyprus in mid-September.

In response, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Dervis Eroglu, the president of the Turkish Cypriot state, describing this as a “provocation,” in late September signed a deal paving the way for their own offshore drilling.

Turkey maintains the Greek Cypriots are disregarding Turkish Cypriot rights and it sent a warship-escorted research vessel, the Koka Piri Reis, to also look for gas off Cyprus. Ankara claims the natural resources around Cyprus belong to both the Turkish and Greek parts of the island.

But President Dimitris Christofias of the Republic of Cyprus in the south has insisted that exploration will continue despite Turkey’s strong opposition.

He asserted the right to search for potential deposits inside the Republic’s exclusive economic zone is non-negotiable and any foreign meddling is unacceptable. (His government does not, of course, recognize any such rights for the Turkish Republic in the north.)

Greece and Israel, too, argue the Turkish vessel has no business being in the area.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou urged “restraint” by all countries in the region, but added Greece supports the Greek Cypriot activities.

Greece also hopes Israel will want to export its own natural gas resources to European markets via a pipeline running through Greek Cyprus to Greece, and that the Turks will not interfere.

Just to make sure, Athens and Jerusalem signed a mutual defence pact in September.

Still, Israeli diplomats worry the Turkish threat could prove dangerous.

“Israel and Cyprus reached agreement dividing the water between the two of them for gas drilling,” Alon Liel, a former ambassador to Turkey remarked.

He worried that things could escalate.

“If Israel and Turkey come to face each other in the Eastern Mediterranean,” it may even require direct American involvement, according to Sinan Ulgen, director of EDAM, a center for economics and foreign policy studies in Istanbul. Then what?