MUNICH, Germany
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has declared "invalid" an agreement reached between the Greek Cypriot administration, Greece and Egypt over natural gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
His comments came Thursday after Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reached agreement on energy development during a trilateral summit in southern Cyprus on April 29.
Cavusoglu told reporters Thursday after meeting Turkish consul generals in the German city of Munich: "No agreement or restriction in which Turkey is not involved is valid in the eastern Mediterranean."
He said Turkey will not allow any exploration efforts in the sea and said "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" in relation to the deal struck between the three.
Turkey and the government of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have strongly opposed any "unilateral" move by the Greek-Cypriot administration to explore hydrocarbon resources around the island, saying the natural resources should be exploited in a fair manner under a united Cyprus.
Negotiations between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot administration to try to find a way to settle their decades-long conflict over the divided island had resumed after a two-year pause in February 2013.
However, the Greek Cypriot administration suspended the talks over the divided island on Oct. 7 after Turkey sent a ship to monitor an oil-and-gas exploration mission off the coast of Cyprus.
