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[DT.]

Egypt and Cyprus freeze out Turkey in possible gas deal

Daniel Dombey in Istanbul, Heba Saleh in Cairo and John Reed in Jerusalem
BG Egypt November 2007 Idku Gas Hub, Rashpetco

The Idku gas hub off Egypt's coast

Egypt and Cyprus are deepening energy co-operation, as an apparent anti-Turkey bloc emerges in the Eastern Mediterranean – potentially undermining US hopes that the area’s gas finds could reduce regional tensions.

At a tripartite Egyptian-Cypriot-Greek meeting in Nicosia on Tuesday, Sherif Ismail, Egypt’s petroleum minister, said Cairo would speed up talks to pipe Cypriot gas for domestic needs and possible re-export.


The use of the gas is a point of heated dispute between Cyprus and Ankara. “They should know that if they try to search for oil, natural gas, south of Cyprus we will not allow this,” Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish prime minister, said on Tuesday. “The Mediterranean is also our sea – if necessary, we too will drill.”

But the ministers’ meeting in Nicosia was only the latest such gathering at a time when Turkey’s relations with many of its neighbours have deteriorated.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s president, held a summit with Nicos Anastasiades, the Cypriot president, and Antonis Samaras, Greece’s prime minister, in Cairo earlier this month. Cyprus and Egypt have both also strengthened ties with Israel, whose own relations with Turkey have become increasingly frayed as Ankara has increasingly championed the causes of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

“This is an indication of how weakened Turkey’s ability is to form alliances in the region,” said Sinan Ulgen at Carnegie Europe, who added that Ankara’s ties with Islamist movements are seen as a threat to the status quo in several countries. “There is certainly an element of an anti-Turkey coalition forming here, although I see it as fragile and ineffective.”

Relations between Cairo and Ankara have deteriorated sharply since the Egyptian military ousted the elected Islamist government last year. Cairo said recently that it would not renew a 2012 three-year transit trade agreement with Turkey that provided an alternative to routes through war-torn Syria.

Meanwhile, Israel has drawn closer to Egypt, while its own relations with Turkey have grown increasingly bitter despite a bid to restore full diplomatic ties last year.
Cyprus map

Cyprus denies seeking to establish an anti-Turkey coalition, but tensions between it and Ankara have risen noticeably in recent weeks because of the gas dispute.

Turkey last month dispatched an exploration vessel of its own to the waters off southern Cyprus – with a military escort – causing Cyprus to break off talks on the unification of the island.

“It’s an incursion, totally illegal . . . done through the use of force against a republic that’s not in any position to respond,” Ioannis Kasoulides, Cyprus’s foreign minister, said at the time.

Ankara, which has no diplomatic relations with Nicosia, argues that the exploitation of gas should be agreed with the Turkish Cypriot minority on the divided island and that Turkey itself is the most logical market for Cypriot gas.

But Egypt is experiencing gas shortages and has emerged as an alternative market. Cairo is also looking at transporting natural gas from Israel through a new underwater pipeline.

Mr Kasoulides told the Financial Times last month that Cyprus was in negotiations to “combine forces and pipelines” to go directly to liquefied natural gas stations in Egypt.

The Obama administration still holds out hope that the Eastern Mediterranean’s gas finds could bring the region together – and in particular act as a spur to the negotiations to reunify Cyprus.

“It holds the promise of enhancing stability and prosperity by bringing together Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Cyprus and hopefully one day Lebanon,” Joe Biden, US vice-president, said at the weekend, as he called for a de-escalation of tensions. “It also has the potential to bring new supplies into Europe, to increase its energy security.

[Nikitas]

The "most logical market" is the one that gives the most profit, the rest is Turkish bullshit.

And a new angle that hit the news today: after a meeting with Davut the TC negotiator Olgun stressed that if there is no agreement spcifically for the gas there will be a "divorce" of the two communities.

The asshole is threatening with partition, forgetting the realities of the last 40 years. The self deluding idiots think that the situation past 1974 is something other than partition. Naturally they are now forcing a choice for the GCs, formally agree to partition if the GCs insist on exploiting what is legally theirs. They know that it is politically impossible for any GC politician to openly propose partition. Though they might be surprised what a referendum on this point might turn up in the RoC. This apparently is part of their "logic" and then they wonder why ALL nations of the eastern Mediterranean are forming a block against them.

And the icing on the cake, if they get no share they will start exploring in the north said Olgun. So why did they not do it yet? They contend that they have the technical knowhow, like the tub Barbaros and a drilling platform they will borrow from landlocked Azerbaijan, in which case they can go ahead, find gas in the northern EEZ and shame us by setting up a private corporation to allocate their profits between the two communities. Show us how it is done Turkish style. The fact is that they have no intention of doing anything for themselves, the idea is to take what others create, which is how they always did things.

While Turkey is threatening and posturing it is useful to note that Greece has made no claims on Cyprus resources, none at all. And this makes the Turkish grab all the more obvious.

[Get Real!]

...the TC negotiator Olgun stressed that if there is no agreement spcifically for the gas there will be a "divorce" of the two communities.

Sure! They can go to their local Mosque and get all the divorces they want and wrap the certificates in velvet for all we care.

The asshole is threatening with partition, forgetting the realities of the last 40 years. The self deluding idiots think that the situation past 1974 is something other than partition. Naturally they are now forcing a choice for the GCs, formally agree to partition if the GCs insist on exploiting what is legally theirs.

They'll be waiting till the cows come home...

[Lordo]

you are forgetting one simple fact. legally yours is correct but morally it is not. it belongs to all cypriots. however, as we know international law is for those who enforce it. the question remains do you have the power and muscle to enforce it. and if you try you will find out how powerful you are in comparison to your opponents. you may not be pleasantly surprised.

in fact you may be shocked at the choices you have when push comes to shove and you are left with the half penny in your hands.

[repulsewarrior]

Lordo, you are expecting everything to stop because Turkey has a mighty hand. you will find that the world does not work that way, gunboats are not the way to settling this dispute.

...it is ironic that Turkey worked so hard for a seat at the UNSC, with logic like yours if you are any representation of "Turkish" thinking, it is no wonder that they failed.

[Nikitas]

Lordo, you keep stressing this "elephant" and the military power of Turkey.

Military might has to have an objective against which it can be used. What is Turkey going to do with her guns? Strategic bombing against Cyprus, to destroy the heavy infrastructure that does not exist? Tactical bombing, defeat the National Guard, and then?

She will take over the south and install a puppet government to legalise the theft? They would enslave, evern temporarily, an EU nation? They are dumb but not that dumb.

So they turn against Greece and threaten there with daily violations of air and sea space inorder to push the Greeks to pressure the Cypriots. This will not work.

The big step, if they want to impress, would be to actually destroy an American, French, Italian or Korean plaform. Now that would make them bigshots in my book. They got the balls for something like that? Elephant balls do not grow easy.

The way out is obvious, enter the game as a LEGAL player and not a blackmailer. Doubtful that their culture can stretch that far. Centuries old habits of taking and pillage are hard to break.

[Lordo]

legality is what comes out of the barrel of a gun. the way of the world i am afraid.

[repulsewarrior]

legality is what comes out of the barrel of a gun. the way of the world i am afraid.

...indeed, so long as they are ''your'' guns, eh?

[Get Real!]

you are forgetting one simple fact. legally yours is correct but morally it is not.

Since when did Turks/Ottomans include that word in their vocabulary?

it belongs to all cypriots.

Cypriots live UNDER the RoC.

in fact you may be shocked at the choices you have when push comes to shove and you are left with the half penny in your hands.

Yes, I was thinking the same about your community...

You cannot hold onto anything on your own so it's a waste of time!