Cyprus - Talks can resume only if 'Neo Otoman conquerors' Turkey acts responsibly.

Cyprus - Talks can resume only if 'Neo Otoman conquerors' Turkey acts responsibly. (CyprusMail).


The Cypriot government expressed the hope yesterday that Turkey will act in a way that will allow the resumption of reunification talks, suspended last October when Ankara dispatched a research vessel inside the island’s exclusive economic zone.

“It is an illegal action showing that Turkey does not respect the sovereign rights of the Republic inside its EEZ,” government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said.

Turkey, which supports the Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in the north, disputes Nicosia’s rights to search for gas.

The government said Turkish Cypriots can share potential benefits, but only when there is a peace deal. President Nicos Anastasiades pulled out of talks in October after Ankara issued a navigational telex, or NavTex, reserving research areas inside the Republic’s EEZ.

It subsequently dispatched a research vessel, Barbaros, to carry out seismic surveys in the area.

The NavTex expired in December but Turkey issued a fresh one early in January, which expires on April 6.

The Barbaros is currently anchored 2.5 kilometres off the coast of Salamis, in occupied Famagusta.

But the government said anything short of withdrawing the telex will not get the talks going.

“The key for the resumption of talks is not having a navigational telex on Turkey’s part,” Christodoulides said. That however, is unlikely to happen.

In any case, Turkish Cypriots have leadership elections on April 19, and even without the NavTex holding up the talks, any form of substantive dialogue would have been doubtful. Hmmm.....Giving Turkey a permanent Seat at the U.N. would only unleash the 'beast'