The United Nations is not going to engage in the settlement of the deepening dispute between Cyprus and Turkey over the exploration of the offshore mineral resources and leaves it to courts to solve, UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in Cyprus and Head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus Elizabeth Spehar told Sputnik
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2019) The United Nations is not going to engage in the settlement of the deepening dispute between Cyprus and Turkey over the exploration of the offshore mineral resources and leaves it to courts to solve, UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in Cyprus and Head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus Elizabeth Spehar told Sputnik.On Thursday, Cyprus petitioned the International Court of Justice at The Hague in order to safeguard its offshore mineral rights amid Turkey's oil exploration drilling in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone.
"We believe that the best way to resolve outstanding issues around hydrocarbons is to reach a comprehensive settlement on Cyprus. We leave this now to the courts and we also leave it to others, it's not up to the Secretary-General or his missions to engage," Spehar said on the sidelines of the Mediterranean Dialogues forum in Rome.
Since hydrocarbon fields were discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean, including those in the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus, their development plans have led to tensions between the countries. Ankara believes that Turkish Cypriots have the right to these natural resources and have sent drilling rigs and naval ships to the region.
On Wednesday, Turkey announced its plans to conduct further oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It came a week after it signed a memorandum of understanding with Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord last week. Under the agreement, Ankara gets access to a zone between Turkey and Libya in the Mediterranean that Greece and Cyprus claim as theirs. Egypt, Greece, Cyprus and the parliament based in eastern Libya have each voiced their objection to the agreement.
