Foreign Ministry spokesperson Koutras’ response to journalists’ questions on the Turkish Foreign Ministry announcement regarding the call for the third round of tenders for licensing of exploration in the Cypriot EEZ

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Konstantinos Koutras stated the following in response to journalists’ questions on the Turkish Foreign Ministry announcement regarding the call for the third round of tenders for licensing of exploration for hydrocarbons in the Cypriot exclusive economic zone (EEZ):

“The Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the United Nations and the European Union, and, like every sovereign state, it is exercising its sovereign rights over the EEZ and continental shelf deriving from international law, customary and conventional.

Turkey needs to abandon its threatening rhetoric and respect the inalienable rights of the sovereign Republic of Cyprus. The incitement of artificial crises and tensions does not benefit the course of the negotiations or the management of the unstable situation in the Eastern Mediterranean. In fact, it is extremely counterproductive.”