Greek Cyprus ‘ready’ for Ankara maritime talks

NEW YORK

Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides has said that he is ready to engage in discussions with Türkiye regarding the delineation of Cyprus’ maritime borders in the northwest.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Capital Link business forum in New York, Christodoulides emphasized that the overlapping maritime claims between Türkiye and his country in the area to the island’s west have been a longstanding issue.

“If Türkiye is ready to discuss with the Republic of Cyprus a delineation of our maritime borders in the northwest, we are ready to discuss it,” he said.

He also mentioned that the Greek Cypriot government is awaiting the results from ExxonMobil, which began drilling in the Block 5 region alongside QatarEnergy in January.

The basis of the ongoing tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean was the disputed maritime borders, which were created especially by the unilateral initiatives of the Greek Cypriot administration to exclude Türkiye and Turkish Cyprus.

The delimitation agreements the Greek Cypriot administration signed with Egypt, Lebanon and Israel have been the subject of objections from Türkiye and Turkish Cyprus.

Turkish Cyprus’ National Unity Party (UBP) Secretary General Oğuzhan Hasipoğlu strongly criticized Christodoulides' calls on Türkiye.