The Turkish Foreign Minister has asked candidate groups for a Greek-Cypriot tender on the exploration of gas and petroleum off the island to withdraw, threatening them in case they do not step back, to exclude them from any future project of cooperation in Turkey.
“As our Prime Minister has already said,” commented the Minister of Foreign Affairs in a note reported by Anadolu agency, “firms which will cooperate with the Greek-Cypriot administration will not be able to participate in energy projects in Turkey.”
Ankara has, in this way, renewed its announcement of a boycott towards energy groups which take part in the search for hydrocarbons on behalf of Cyprus.
The Foreign Minister’s words refer to a second tender for the search of hydrocarbons off Cyprus, the Turkish agency pointed out, referring to the island divided in 1974 after a Turkish military intervention and now at the center of tensions due to the drilling in search of petroleum and gas in the southern region which is recognized by the international community.
The Turkish minister “invites all countries involved and the gas companies to have some common sense and not participate in the activities of this maritime sector which creates a problem for the Cyprus issue.”
In the note, the Ministry “invites the groups to also withdraw their bids from the above mentioned tender.”
(source: ANSA)
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