By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 4 -- With new Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci at the UN on June 4, Inner City Press asked him, as it had his predecessor, if hydrocarbons could help resolve the situation on the island. Video here. Here is his response, transcribed by Inner City Press:
"Regarding the hydrocarbons, I regard this issue as an asset which will be helpful to create a win-win situation for every interested party, rather than starting to fight about it, at a time when we don’t know about the amount and it is not extracted yet. The wise thing to do is to prepare for the future. We can create a win win situation whereby we can use that as an asset for the financing of the solution, as well as Cypriot natural gas combined Israeli gas can be channeled to Europe via Turkey by a pipeline, which seems to be much more visible than other options, therefore I believe this issue can be handled wisely, can be used as an asset for a solution rather than a blockage in our way."
This is different than his predecessor.
During the 2014 UN General Debate, Inner City Press asked by Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu if hydrocarbons could help or hurt their negotiations.
Anastasiades was upbeat about the chances, when he answered Inner City Press. Video here.
Then on Saturday, September 30 at the General Assembly stakeout while UN official Herve Ladsous created a circus next to the stakeout,Vine here, Inner City Press asked Eroglu the same question about hydrocarbons. He was downbeat, saying that they might make Greek Cypriots more intransigent. Video here.
Now, a development. While Italy's ENI started drilling, the Greek Cypriot were informed of competing seismic tests in the same area, at least until the end of the year.
Now the Greek Cypriot side has pulled out of talks that were to take place October 9 between Anastasiades and Eroglu. One question is, whose to blame? Another is, why didn't the UN and its new envoy Epsen Barth Eide see this coming? What will they do now? We'll have more on this.
