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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday known as for a diplomatic resolution to the confrontation between Greece and Turkey over vitality reserves in east Mediterranean waters, saying ongoing navy tensions between two NATO allies solely serve the alliance’s foes.
“Increased military tensions help no one but adversaries who would like to see division in transatlantic unity,” Pompeo stated after talks with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.
Pompeo stated President Donald Trump has already spoken along with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in hopes of ending the standoff.
Greek and Turkish warships have been staring one another down in current weeks as Turkish analysis vessels and drill ships proceed looking for hydrocarbons in waters the place Greece and Cyprus declare unique financial rights.
So far, three sizable gas discoveries have been made inside Cyprus’ unique financial zone the place vitality firms together with Total of France, Italy’s Eni and ExxonMobil are licensed to hold out hydrocarbons searches.
EU members Greece and Cyprus have accused Turkey of violating worldwide regulation and have been attempting to rally fellow bloc members to impose harder sanctions towards Turkey.
Turkey, which doesn’t acknowledge Cyprus as a state, insists it has each proper to prospect in these waters and is doing so to defend its rights and people of breakaway Turkish Cypriots on ethnically divided Cyprus to a possible mineral bounty.
“We remain deeply concerned by Turkey’s ongoing operations, surveying for natural resources in areas where Greece and Cyprus assert jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean,” stated Pompeo, repeating Washington’s assist for Cyprus’ proper to take advantage of hydrocarbon deposits in its territorial sea and unique financial zone.
Cyprus has been divided right into a Greek-Cypriot south and a Turkish-occupied north since a 1974 invasion by Turkey in response to a coup looking for to unite the island with Greece. A breakaway state in the north is acknowledged solely by Turkey.
The US prime diplomatic additionally repeated that any potential hydrocarbon wealth ought to be shared equitably between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
Anastasiades stated he absolutely supported Washington’s place that regional disputes ought to be resolved by means of dialogue “and not by gunboat diplomacy.” The Cypriot president repeated his authorities’s provide to both negotiate with Turkey immediately on marking maritime borders or taking the difficulty to the International Court of Justice.
Pompeo’s lightning go to to Cyprus additionally aimed to affirm Washington’s energetic engagement in tumultuous area simply 4 days after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pitched Moscow’s provide to assist ease tensions throughout his journey to the island nation.
Reminiscent of a Cold War-era rivalry, the visits by Pompeo and Lavrov to Cyprus underscored a renewed curiosity in a area the place Moscow’s footprint has grown bigger on account of its navy involvement in neighboring Syria.
“Security cooperation matters all the more as we see nations that don’t share our values trying to obtain footholds in the region,” stated Pompeo.
Cyprus has tried to leverage its geographic proximity to the Middle East by striving to bolster relations with the US whereas on the identical time sustaining robust ties with Moscow on whose assist it counts on in the United Nations.
Pompeo stated US-Cyprus relations “have never been better,” however repeated to Anastasiades Washington’s issues over Russian cash laundering actions in Cyprus in addition to ports of name Russian warships make at Cypriot ports.
The centerpiece of nearer Cyprus-US hyperlinks was final yr’s congressional approval of the Eastern Mediterranean Energy and Security Partnership Act that underscores US assist for an energy-based partnership between Greece, Cyprus and Israel.
Under the Act, the US is offering Cyprus with funding for navy coaching and has partially lifted an arms embargo that was enacted 33 years in the past to forestall a doable arms race harming peace talks. The lifting of the embargo was made doable after Washington waived a requirement that Cyprus stop to supply refueling and different port providers to Russian warships.
“We know that all the Russian military vessels that stop in Cypriot ports are not conducting humanitarian missions in Syria,” Pompeo stated.
The transfer — in addition to US officers accusing Russia of enjoying a “very destabilizing role in the region” — angered Moscow, with Lavrov accusing Washington of utilizing “divide and rule” techniques to drive a wedge between Russia and international locations in the area.
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