Turkey floats ‘private company’ idea for Cyprus drilling tension

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has stated that he has proposed the engagement of a to-be-founded private company in drilling activity until a resolution is found to the decades-long Cyprus issue.

“Now, we have new proposals. We have made this offer: As the states do not want to be a counterpart to each other until a resolution comes into being, let’s allow a private company to be founded and have searches conducted by that [company],” Çavuşoğlu said.

Both the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot administration have the right to conduct oil search activities, Çavuşoğlu said late on Nov. 24, but he underlined that Ankara is against unilateral searches by the Greek Cypriots while peace talks between the two sides are on the table.

“When they drill, we send the ship,” Çavuşoğlu was quoted as saying by the semi-official Anadolu Agency, responding to questions from lawmakers at Parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission, which is reviewing the Foreign Ministry and the EU Ministry budgets as part of ongoing deliberations on the 2015 Central Governance Budget Law.

The U.N.-led negotiations between the two sides of the divided island of Cyprus resumed after a two-year pause in February 2013.

However, the Greek-Cypriot administration suspended the talks on Oct. 7, 2014, after Turkey sent a ship for oil-and-gas exploration to the waters off the coast of Cyprus.