TRNC President’s Office says it will defend its legitimate rights in East Med

The statement which pointed out that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus maintained its determined stance to protect its legitimate rights and interests in the Eastern Mediterranean, stressed that the Turkish Cypriot side has the same rights as the Greek Cypriot side to explore, drill and manage the natural resources discovered around the island.

“As it is known, the TRNC signed a ‘Continental Shelf Delimitation Agreement’ with Turkey on September 21, 2011 after  the Greek Cypriot side continued with its unilateral activities, issuing a licence to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation to carry out research and drilling at blocks it determined around the island. The Turkish Petroleum Corporation has so far carried out seismic surveys covering an area of thousands of nautical miles and has conducted exploratory drilling at three of these blocks. Our hope is that the Turkish Petroleum Corporation will reach positive outcomes from these activities it is carrying out on our behalf,” the statement said.

It also stressed that TRNC, in accordance with its sovereign equality and equal status, will continue with its hydrocarbon activities as long as the Greek Cypriot side continues with its unilateral activities.

“However we shall also keep the door for diplomacy open,” the statement added, reminding that the Turkish Cypriot side’s proposal on hydrocarbons tabled in 2019 was still on the table.

“The TRNC also fully supports a proposal made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2020 to hold an Eastern Mediterranean Conference. Nevertheless, we condemn the provocative unilateral activities of the Greek Cypriot side which ignore these proposals and which aims to usurp both ours and Turkey’s rights,” the President’s office said.

The statement also reminded of the attempts by the Greek Cypriot side to violate Turkey’s continental shelf with its exploration vessel Nautical Geo under the pretext of the EastMed pipeline project which was abandoned recently by the US.

“The project which the US silently withdrew its support from was never economically feasible but was a political move aimed to exclude both us and Turkey,” the statement said.

The TRNC President’s Office called on the Greek Cypriot side to abandon its unilateral activities which would raise tensions and to positively evaluate the Turkish Cypriot side’s proposal for cooperation.