By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 29
-- The issue
of Cypriot
hydrocarbon
reserves,
and who will
drill for and
sell them, has
heated up. At
the UN on
September 26,
after
posing
questions to
Demetris
Christofias,
Inner
City Press asked
UN spokesman
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City Press:
the leader of
the Turkish
republic of
northern
Cyprus,
Mr. [Dervis]
Eroglu, has
said that he
is going to
meet with the
Secretary-General
on Saturday,
and he has given a
preview of
what he
is going to
say, which is
that he
proposes and
they have
signed a
contract for
oil
exploration on
what they view
as their
coast. Given
the UN’s role
in Cyprus, I
understand
[Ban] is going
to have the
meeting
Saturday, but
what is his
view? Does
each community
have the
right to sign
its own
contracts, do
this
exploration,
or what should
take place?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, I think,
first of all,
we need to
hear directly
ourselves what
the
representative
from northern
Cyprus has to
say. And
that’s not
going to be
for another
couple of
days.
On
Saturday,
September 29,
Inner City
Press asked
Eroglu about
his
proposal and
Ban's
reaction, less
than two hours
after their
meeting
in a small
press
conference on
the third
floor of the
Turkish Center
across First
Avenue from
the UN.
Inner City
Press
specifically
asked,
and will
pursue, what
would happen
under this
proposal with
each
side's
existing
contracts,
with Noble and
the Turkish
petroleum
company.
Through
his
translator --
Inner City
Press
interviewed
the tandem
last year
-- Eroglu
replied that
"Last
year we made a
proposal, but
first we asked
Greek Cypriot
side to
stop this
activity... we
said, if you
start your own
drilling, we
will have to
carry out out
own research
and drilling.
But they
didn't
stop... so we
started our
own... Last
year we did
sign two
agreements
with the
Republic of
Turkey, one
was about the
delineation of
territorial
waters, and
the second one
was with
Turkish
petroleum
company... The
TRNC started
its drilling
and it's
continuing...
We
are also
showing
maximum offers
waters of
Eastern
Mediterranean
do
not heat up."
On Ban Ki-moon's response to the proposal, Eroglu said, "The Secretary Gen took our proposal. Last year, he said he would tell his friends to look into it. Today again, with a new element."
This
new element is
the proposed
shipment of
the
"hydrocarbon
resources...
through a
pipeline via
Turkey." The
TRNC's
"Talking
Paper,"
obtained by
Inner City
Press and put online
here, says
that "other
alternatives
so far
discussed,
such as
building an
LNG plant or a
pipeline via
Greece, lack
economic
feasibility."
Christofias,
who
will not run
for office
again, will
surely not
like the
proposal;
nor will his
presumed
successor. So
will both
sides'
drilling just
continue?
Watch this
site.
