H\u00fcrriyet Daily News<\/p>\n
Barbaros<\/p>\n
Both the Turkish and Greek\u00a0Cypriots are considering a halt to exploration activities for hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean, in order to restart settlement talks for reunification of Cyprus.<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s Barbaros Hayreddin Pa\u015fa seismic vessel has taken a break in its activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and anchored off the Gazima\u011fusa harbor as a \u201cgood will sign,\u201d Turkish Cypriot spokesperson Osman Ertu\u011f has said, describing it as a \u201cgood will gesture\u201d ahead of a possible resumption of Cyprus peace talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarbaros is waiting outside the Gazima\u011fusa harbor as a good will gesture, despite a Turkish maritime Navigational Telex [Navtex] order that is valid until April 6,\u201d Ertu\u011f told reporters on March 27.<\/p>\n
The move aims to support the efforts of U.N. Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide, Ertu\u011f said, adding that their hopes are fueled for the resumption of Cyprus talks.<\/p>\n
Espen Barth Eide
\nIn a recent visit to the island, Eide had signaled hope for restarting reunification talks between the two sides, telling the Turkish side that the Greek\u00a0Cypriots \u201cwere obliged to give a break in drilling activities due to technical reasons, which would be an opportunity to get back to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his part, Ertu\u011f stated that if the Greek\u00a0Cypriots are to demand that Turkey avoids collecting seismic data, then the Greek\u00a0Cypriots should also end their unilateral drilling activities. \u201cBut if they show previously signed agreements as a reason to continue their collection, then we\u2019ll continue our drilling too. Alternatively, let\u2019s conduct those explorations together. At least, let\u2019s not leave the reunification talks table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Osman Ertug<\/p>\n
Turkey\u2019s reissuing of a new Navtex for seismic surveys of the Barbaros vessel is dependent on Greek\u00a0Cyprus\u2019s continuation of its unilateral drilling activities, Ertu\u011f added.<\/p>\n
He also claimed that the Greek\u00a0Cypriots has abandoned negotiations not because of Turkey\u2019s seismic surveys in the region, but because the talks were about to reach the \u201cgive and take\u201d stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Greek\u00a0Cypriots are not ready for \u2018give and take\u2019 phase of the talks,\u201d Ertu\u011f said.<\/p>\n
Greek Cypriot authorities said on Oct. 21 that the Barbaros had entered their exclusive economic zone and intended to stay in the area, according to a maritime advisory issued in early October.<\/p>\n
Nicosia is unhappy that Ankara\u00a0is searching for oil and gas in the same area as the Cypriot government has already licensed exploratory drills, in an exclusive economic zone.<\/p>\n
In October 2014, Greek\u00a0Cyprus suspended its participation in U.N.-led peace talks launched in February 2014, when the research vessel had entered the region that Greek\u00a0Cyprus claims as its Exclusive Economic Zone.<\/p>\n
However, the Turkish side disputes Greek\u00a0Cyprus\u2019 rights to a swathe of sea to the island\u2019s south and southeast that is rich in natural gas reserves, demanding an equal share of resources between the two governments of the divided island.<\/p>\n
March\/28\/2015<\/span><\/p>\n K\u00fcfi Seydali<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" H\u00fcrriyet Daily News Barbaros Both the Turkish and Greek\u00a0Cypriots are considering a halt to exploration activities for hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean, in order to restart settlement talks for reunification of Cyprus. Turkey\u2019s Barbaros Hayreddin Pa\u015fa seismic vessel has taken a break in its activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and anchored off the Gazima\u011fusa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":30954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[9723,2010],"class_list":["post-109732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-cyprus","tag-natural-gas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}