Cyprus-Forum.com

[humanist]

http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/x ... portage-01

Cyprus oil row could harm new peace efforts
03/09/2007
The stalled Cyprus peace process has been showing tentative signs of life, but a new quarrel over plans for oil exploration could halt the momentum.
By Ayhan Simsek for Southeast European Times -- 03/09/07


Oil exploration in Cyprus is causing contention between Turkey and Greece. [Southeast European Times photo illustration]
The internationally recognised Cypriot government recently announced a tender and accepted applications for oil and gas exploration in the south and southwest of the island. Turkey, which has militarily occupied northern Cyprus since 1974, has said such a move is "unacceptable". Ankara has also warned international oil and gas companies that it will not tolerate erosion of its interests in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Turkish Cypriot administration also opposed the move by Nicosia. "We should be partners -- they cannot utilise the resources of the island without our consent," said Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat said.

Oil giants Shell, Exxon and BP have refrained from taking part in the tender. Only three applications have been submitted, one from a Texas based company. A consortium of three companies from Norway, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom also applied for exploration rights.

Meanwhile, Turkey has launched a counteraction. The state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) is moving ahead with plans to explore oil and gas, initially on Turkey's continental shelf along the Mediterranean coast. The government has already granted TPAO licenses to begin surveying four out of 11 exploration blocks.

The Cypriot government plans to explore oil and gas in a 70,000 sq km area that separates the island from Egypt and Lebanon. According to estimates, the area could yield between eight and ten billion barrels of oil.

The Turkish side claims the real aim of the Greek Cypriot move is to complicate the Cyprus issue by drawing new parties into it.


Turkey's TPAO has started an exploration project on Turkey's continental shelf along the Mediterranean coast. [TPAO.gov]
Asked to comment on the application of a US company to the tender, the US State Department said that the internationally recognised government of Cyprus has the right to request bids for oil exploration within its own economic zone. "The involvement of US firms in such investment is a business decision," the State Department said.

Portugal, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, also said that the Cypriot government was acting under international law and took the appropriate conventions.

The flap over oil rights comes at a particularly sensitive time, as the international community tries to revive the stalled peace talks on Cyprus. Under increased diplomatic pressure, the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders finally agreed last week to meet on September 5th to resume peace talks, after an almost one-year break.

Last July, Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and Talat agreed to launch two-layer negotiations. Technical committees would deal with day-to-day issues, while working groups would discuss substantive questions. But little progress has been made, due to a lack of trust between the two sides. Each has blamed the other for the impasse.

Papadopoulos subsequently turned down proposals from Talat for new talks, arguing that they should not have a meeting for the sake of having one, or for public relations purposes.

With Cyprus' presidential elections coming in February, however, Papadopoulos recently sought to take the initiative.

A recent survey, published in the Greek Cypriot daily Politis, put Papadopoulos in the lead with 28% -- down slightly from a poll in June. Independent candidate Ioannis Kassoulides, who is backed by the right-wing Democratic Rally Party (DISY), is next with 26.8% -- a 0.6% increase from last month. Demetris Christofias, head of the left-wing AKEL party, saw his support rise 3.3 points to 26.5%.


Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos (left) and TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat will meet this week. [Southeast European Times photo illustration]
Papadopoulos has been criticised by the International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based think tank. It argues that a comprehensive solution for Cyprus will only be possible with new leadership. "An opportunity for change in Greek Cyprus may emerge if presidential elections in February 2008 produce a more pro-reunification president than the current hardliner, Tassos Papadopoulos," the group said in a report.

The ICG report also urged the Greek Cypriot government to recognise that "reunification of the island is only possible through the UN bicommunal, bizonal process" and that authorities should explain this fact to the Greek Cypriot population. "The government of Cyprus should set out realistic political goals that acknowledge a compromise with the Turkish Cypriots will require sacrifice by the Greek Cypriots as well," it said.

Cyprus has been divided for over three decades between the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot administration in the south and the self-declared TRNC in the north. In 1974, citing its role as a one of the guarantor powers on Cyprus, Turkey invaded in response to a coup by a group of Greek officers who were pushing for union between Cyprus and Greece. It eventually occupied around 37% of the island's territory.

In 1983, the Turkish Cypriot authorities founded the TRNC. It has been recognised only by Turkey.

The Greek-run Republic of Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004, claiming to represent the island as a whole. A month prior to that, Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected the UN-sponsored Annan Plan -- the last major effort for the unification of the island. .

Turkish Cypriots, in a separate referendum in April 2004, voted in favour of the plan, which had to be endorsed by both sides in order for a reunified Cyprus to enter the EU. The Turkish-run northern sector remains under international isolation.

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com

[zan]

So what are YOU saying Humanist. Have you read this report and understood it?

It looks like you are now the partitionist on the forum. Always trying to rock the boat and pulling us apart....Funny that

[humanist]

Zan I have stated before my position on Turkey. I am not going to do it again. I have also stated my views of Talat and my position on a supportive inclussive Cyprus Island nation and all Cypriots.

Talat, supports Turkey's threats not only to complicate issues on oil exploration but has also threatened war, when exploration goes on. If you stop being so pro Turkish you may see my point of view.

Partnership is that if we are trully partners. trnc does not exists as a country therefore you cannot have relations with something that does not exist, the GC' does not recognise that illegal state therefore it is not going to just hand it over partnership rights. The minute Talat trully bring its people to unification then you will be partners and share the wealth.

Let me make my point clear. I believe TC's have just as much right to all of Cyprus just as any other Cypriot. I do not support your illegal state. I support the staus quo for as long as you claim that the occupied Cyprus is a country. If that makes me a partitionist then so be it.

[zan]

Zan I have stated before my position on Turkey. I am not going to do it again. I have also stated my views of Talat and my position on a supportive inclussive Cyprus Island nation and all Cypriots.

Talat, supports Turkey's threats not only to complicate issues on oil exploration but has also threatened war, when exploration goes on. If you stop being so pro Turkish you may see my point of view.

Partnership is that if we are trully partners. trnc does not exists as a country therefore you cannot have relations with something that does not exist, the GC' does not recognise that illegal state therefore it is not going to just hand it over partnership rights. The minute Talat trully bring its people to unification then you will be partners and share the wealth.

Let me make my point clear. I believe TC's have just as much right to all of Cyprus just as any other Cypriot. I do not support your illegal state. I support the staus quo for as long as you claim that the occupied Cyprus is a country. If that makes me a partitionist then so be it.

Reversed roles as I said before. You hate me for saying the same things.


The "RoC" cannot have it both ways eiher. Either they takee the oil and recognise the TRNC/KKTC or they don't drill untill there is a solution.

[zan]

National Council stands behind July 8 accord
By Alexia Saoulli
THE NATIONAL Council was yesterday unanimous in its support of pushing the July 8 agreement at tomorrow’s talks between President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

The National Council convened 48 hours ahead of the scheduled meeting between Papadopoulos and Talat at the residence of UN special envoy Michael Moller at 4pm.

The 90 minute meeting, which began just after at 5pm, involved the president informing the advisory body’s members about what efforts had been made to implement the July 8 agreement and his assessment of it and the prospects of its promotion.

Following its conclusion a statement unanimously adopted by the Council was read out by government spokesman Vassilis Palmas.

“The president of the Republic informed the members of the body about the developments of efforts to implement the process so far and expressed his assessments on prospects of promoting the July 8 agreement,” he said.

Palmas added that the Greek Cypriot side and the National Council remained committed to the agreement.

During the meeting the members of the advisory body expressed their positions and views as regarding tomorrow’s meeting, the government spokesman said.

Palmas refused to comment to what extent the issue of whether or not Papadopoulos would discuss the promotion of a bizonal, bicommunal federal solution with Talat had been raised. His only comment was that Christofias had made one reference to the issue but it had not been discussed.

Earlier in the day and responding to concerns about risks that an open agenda for the Talat meeting might entail, Palmas pointed out that in letters exchanged for the meeting the position of the leaders was “that during this meeting the July 8 agreement should be promoted”.

The July 2006 agreement, clinched under UN auspices between Papadopoulos and Talat, provides for discussions at technical committees and working groups on issues that affect the day-to-day life of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots as well as issues relating to the Cyprus problem. No such discussions have taken place yet, in spite of year-long meetings between top aides of the leaders of the two communities.

Referring to criticisms by AKEL and DISY party representatives that the president needed to clarify his potion on the Cyprus problem following a recent barrage of conflicting comments from Papapdopoulos’ camp regarding a biocommunal, bizonal federation, Palmas said: “The President’s positions are clear and have already been tabled and we believe that any discussion on these issues is merely a matter of personal opinion.”

He added: “The UN-proposed solution plan, the Annan Plan, did not provide for a bizonal, bicommunal federation but it was a solution plan that would have created two states and in essence it abolished the bizonal, bicommunal federation.”

At yesterday’s meeting AKEL was represented by Demetris Christofias and Nikos Katsourides, DIKO was represented by Marios Karoyian and George Kolokasides, EDEK was represented by Yiannakis Omirou and Kyriakos Mavronikolas, Evroko was represented by Demetris Syllouris and Nikos Koutsou, and the Green party was represented by George Perdikis and Dinos Paspallides.

Only opposition DISY remained absent after it suspended its participation to the Council, saying it did not function properly.
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Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2007


A debate went on in the "RoC" government hall about there not being a real GC definition of what a "bizonal, bicommunal federation" means because they have no real definition of it and they are attending a meeting saying that they may discuss this issue...hahhahhahaa and you say the TCs can't be trusted......

[Nikitas]

Bizonal and Bicommunal are self evident. Federatin is the one that stumps me and others. Federation like others, ie USA, Switzerland, Germany, Spain etc? Or something new like the one Annan or more likely Lord Hannay thought up? If you define it by the above group of states then the Annan thing was not a federation, if you take Annan then the USA is something else. Therein lies the federation problem.

But the people who participated in the meeting should have been the ones to give the definitions years ago, instead they would spout inanities like "we had a constructive and substantial meeting on the critical aspects of the Cyprus problem", ie they indulged in secret diplomacy.

And then ate expensive meals of Maine lobster and hired black hookers to entertain them. I have my sources! And both sides tasted the goods, at more than one meeting! Ah Cypriots, we have some diamonds amongst us!

[Sotos]

TCs want partition. We want a united country. That sums it up. What does it matter how you name it? BBF is just 3 letters.

[paliometoxo]

any news on the meeting that happened today?

[Kifeas]

any news on the meeting that happened today?

Talat desperately tried once more to side-step from the "8th of July" agreement, in order to "buy" more time and facilitate the Turkish objective of throwing more cement into more GC properties; hoping in this way that we will ever accept the ridiculous property provisions of the Annal plan and gift to them all our properties in the occupied north!

This is the outcome of today's meeting, as far as I understood it!

[Pyrpolizer]

After signing the 8th july agreement the Turkish side realized there is no way way possible they would ever get something like the Annan plan. So they changed their mind.

Talat made it clear today he wants:

a)either a give and take on the Anan Plan (as if that was something we accepted!!! ) or
b) Face to face discussions that would either
i)collapse with no agreement on anything or
ii)Yield to some more concessions from the GCs with no final solution as it was always happening in the Denktashes years

Papadopoulos stressed he accepts nothing else that the 8 July agreement that will solve the Cyprob on a NEW basis.