Turkey says Israeli, Cypriot exploration illegal Wednesday, 23 November 2011 14:46

ANKARA: Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Wednesday Israeli and Cypriot energy exploration in the Mediterranean was illegal, agreement should first be reached with all relevant parties, and resources should be equally shared, reported the Turkish Anatolia news agency Wednesday.Turkey said Cyprus should have waited for a settlement on reunification first.

Turkey sent a vessel into the eastern Mediterranean in search of gas stores on Friday, days after it warned Cyprus not to go ahead with its own offshore gas exploration drilling in the region.

Turkey contests a Cypriot-Israeli accord signed last year to create an exclusive economic zone in the waters between them.

In retaliation, Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot administration signed their own continental shelf agreement on Wednesday, permitting the state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation to begin exploration north of the divided island.

Ankara argues that Nicosia should not tap resources in the region until the decades-long standoff between Cyprus' Turkish north and Greek south is resolved. It says the spoils of such resources should be shared between both communities.

Turkey is the only government to recognize the breakaway northern Cyprus, run by a Turkish Cypriot administration, as a separate state, though it backs reunification talks.(QNA)