Turkey warns Lebanon, Egypt against oil exploration deal with Cyprus

[Dover]

Turkey warns Lebanon, Egypt against oil exploration deal with Cyprus
Front page / World
01/30/2007 16:37 Source:

Turkey warned Lebanon and Egypt on Tuesday not to press ahead with oil and gas exploration deals signed with Cyprus, saying Turkey and Turkish Cypriots also had rights in the region.
Turkey was "determined to protect its rights and interests in the eastern Mediterranean and will not allow attempts to erode them," Turkey's Foreign Ministry warned in a statement.

Lebanon and Cyprus signed an agreement for the delineation of an undersea border on Jan. 17 to facilitate future oil and gas exploration between the two east Mediterranean countries.

The 200 kilometer-wide (120 mile-wide) seabed separating Lebanon and Cyprus is believed to hold significant crude oil and natural gas deposits. The exclusive zone agreement is designed to mark the underwater areas where each country can carry out exploration and exploitation work once oil or gas is discovered.

A similar agreement signed between Egypt and Cyprus allowed for the joint exploitation of potential undersea oil and gas fields between the two countries.
Turkey and Greece came to the brink of war in early 1987 over a similar oil drilling rights dispute in the Aegean Sea. A clash was averted after Turkey withdrew a seismic exploration ship and agreed not to test in contested waters if Greece did the same.

Any crisis between Turkey and EU-member Cyprus over exploration rights could potentially drag Greece into the dispute and could also further complicate Turkey's relations with the EU, which has agreed to slow down membership negotiations with Ankara over its refusal to open ports and airports to Greek Cypriot vessels and planes....cont'd

http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/30-01-2007/86901-oil_deal-0