Greek Cyprus to raise Türkiye’s planned gas pipeline with EU

NICOSIA

Turkish research vessel the Oruç Reis. (AA photo)

Greek Cyprus will bring Türkiye’s proposed undersea natural gas pipeline to Turkish Cyprus before EU foreign ministers, arguing that the project infringes on its sovereignty and raises questions over Ankara’s commitment to joining the bloc.

Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said he would inform his EU counterparts about a memorandum of understanding signed between Türkiye and Turkish Cyprus on a pipeline connecting Türkiye’s southern coast with Northern Cyprus.

Kombos denounced the agreement as a “clear violation of international law and the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus,” describing it as part of what he called a broader pattern of Turkish actions in the region.

Speaking ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, he said Cyprus had reported 659 violations of its airspace and exclusive economic zone to the United Nations in July and August.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman met Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides on Oct. 13 in the United Nations-controlled buffer zone, with proposals for confidence-building measures put forward by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres featuring on the agenda.

In a social media post ahead of the meeting, Erhürman said they would discuss the seven measures Guterres outlined during his visit to the island in late July, noting that six of the proposals had already been accepted.

“We are going into the meeting with the aim of holding a results-oriented discussion,” Erhürman said.

The meeting was be the leaders’ first since their separate engagements on the Cyprus issue in New York. They last met on Sept. 17.

Following his contacts in New York, Erhürman had stressed the need to address the seven confidence-building proposals raised by the UN chief.