'Some EU countries are attempting to mediate in Cyprus'

By Muhammet İkbal Arslan

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Kudret Ozersay said on Tuesday that some EU countries are attempting to mediate in Cyprus over natural resources.

"Today, EU countries and prominent countries in the past six months are attempting to assume a mediating role between the sides over the natural resources," Ozersay said, speaking at the TRNC parliament.

He said that there is more than one actor which is attempting to mediate.

Ozersay said if it serves the international actors' interests and the international companies do not want to risk the investment they did, they might be ready to support a cooperation on the issue of natural resources.

Turkey, as a guarantor nation for the TRNC, is currently carrying out hydrocarbon exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean with two drilling vessels.

Ankara has consistently contested the Greek Cypriot administration's unilateral drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting that the TRNC also has rights to the resources in the area.

In 1974, following a coup aiming at Cyprus’s annexation by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the TRNC was founded.

The decades since have seen several attempts to resolve the Cyprus dispute, all ending in failure. The latest one, held with the participation of the guarantor countries -- Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. -- came to an end without any progress in 2017 in Switzerland.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara