Foreign relations of Cyprus

Ankara is sticking to its tough rhetoric on Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, with regard to energy, the possibility of resuming talks on the Cyprus issue, and Turkey's so-called rights in the region.

Turkey's perspective remains the same on the Cyprus issue as it was 45 years ago, Turkish National Defense Minister said on Aug. 10.

Turkey never ignores any solutions on Cyprus as it is a "national cause for us", the country's foreign minister said on Aug. 5.

The Turkish Cypriot government is speeding up efforts to turn Varosha, which has remained abandoned and uninhabited for 45 years, into a major tourist destination.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck a defiant tone on Wednesday, saying Turkey will not be deterred from its goals in an apparent dig at the recent sanctions announced by the European Union over his country's drilling activities off the coast of Cyprus as well as those under discussion in the US over Ankara's purchase of Russian-made S-400 weapons systems.

Turkey's foreign ministry said on July 10 it rejected statements by Greek and European Union officials that Turkish drilling for gas and oil off Cyprus was illegitimate and said the EU could not be an impartial mediator on the Cyprus problem.

Just two weeks after the EU threatened Turkey with sanctions over its violation of Cyprus' sovereignty in its Exclusive Economic Zone, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlet Cavusoglu are issuing thinly veiled threats of military action against the EU member-state.

A possible rise of Kudret Ozersay, the "foreign minister" in the Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, to the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community will be a negative development for the Cyprus issue, the country's Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said on Wednesday.

Turkish Cyprus on June 16 slammed an EU summit declaration, saying the bloc "cannot be fair and impartial" on the Cyprus issue, reported local media.       

Greek Cypriot administration has strike a deal with international companies on the distribution of revenues from natural gas exploitation from the Aphrodite field in the eastern Mediterranean, drawing fresh criticism from Turkey.