No Turko-Greek oil rift in Aegean says Turkish Energy minister

Energy issues will not become a subject of tension between Turkey and Greece, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has said, adding that Ankara has told Athens it has no current intention of conducting exploration in the countries’ shared sea. 

“There is no problem in energy issues,” he told the Hürriyet Daily News despite a divergence of views on exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean that recently drove Greece to complain to the United Nations about Turkey’s exploration efforts.

“We have the intention of using energy issues not as a reason to create tension but as a reason for growth and opening. We will see whether other countries will follow this principle,” Yıldız told the Daily News when asked about the recent initiative of Greece, which said on Feb. 22 that it had notified the U.N. of Turkey’s granting of exploration permits for areas “on the Greek continental shelf.”

Greece’s move came just days ahead of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ visit to Turkey, which resulted in the signing of nearly two dozen agreements on March 4.

“Making explorations in areas that are open to discussion would create concerns not only with Turkey but with other countries as well,” said Yıldız in reference to GreekCyprus’ decision to start explorations in the divided island’s south.

“We say there are two ways: You strengthen the legal basis, you withdraw from disputed areas, or, if you find something there, this should belong to the whole of Cyprus. This is only natural. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus said when we jointly started [explorations] that whatever found would be shared based on reasonable shares. Why should energy issues become the subject of tension when all of our relations with Greece are going well?” he said. 

“They asked, ‘Will you conduct explorations in the Aegean?’ We said, ‘As of now, we will not.’ Don’t we know any exploration creates a controversy? Of course we know,” said Yıldız.

The fact that energy ministers from both sides were not present at the meetings attended by nearly a dozen ministers from each side does not mean that there is a problem on energy issues between the two governments, according to Yıldız.

When asked about the fact that the Greek Cypriots and international companies had gone ahead with exploration work in the eastern Mediterranean despite warnings from Ankara, Yıldız said: “They are continuing their work. There are some companies that took into consideration our warnings and a small number of others who did not. They will make their choices and we will make our choices. I believe it will be beneficial for all for work to be done through consensus.”

When asked whether there was potential for the desired consensus, Yıldız said, “We saw a little bit more optimistic statements on this issue from the new leader of the Cypriot administration,” in reference to Nicos Anastasiades, who won the country’s recent presidential elections. 

While economies are becoming global, policies are becoming more national, according to Yıldız, who said projects needed to be politically feasible. 

“We can have results only if we can decide together in these sorts of joint areas. The countries need to meet at that politically feasible point,” said Yıldız. 

“We never took a negative move. We always said we are ready to take a positive step all the time,” he said.

When asked if there had been a positive development as far as reaching a point of consensus on the issue of exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, Yıldız said interested parties needed to take into account the advantages provided by Turkey’s geography. 

“These types of projects are not projects that you can pursue stubbornly. These are not projects that you can say, let’s do it whatever the cost, even if the price of gas reaches 500 dollars. I believe the technical side of the project will bring politics to a certain level,” he said.

The relevant sides know these projects are not feasible without the participation of Cyprus, said Yıldız.

Athens, Ankara seek further warming of ties to boost trade

Turkey and Greece are set to foster their economic ties further, with both sides pleased at the state of their existing relationship, the prime ministers of the two neighboring countries said yesterday.

“We have increased the trade volume between the two countries by more than 100 percent in the last decade,” Turkish Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday in Istanbul at the Turkey-Greece Business Forum, also attended by his Greekcounterpart Antonis Samaras. 

Samaras was on a one-day official visit to Turkey during which he met Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül, before attending the forum.

The trade volume between Turkey and Greece reached $5 billion last year despite the economic crisis, Erdoğan said, adding that even that level is not enough.

“We agreed to raise the bilateral trade to $10 billion as soon as possible, and the groups to realize this - Greek businessmen and Turkish businessmen - are here today,” Erdağan said.

Greek Prime Minister Samaras was also happy with the visit. “Today is a good day for Greek-Turkish relations,” he said, adding that the two countries’ relationship was not “fully aligned” and that “careful steps” had to be taken to build trust.

“The fact we got together today is proof that Turks and Greeks can sit around the table and talk,” Samaras said.

Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, the head of the Union of Chamber and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), said the bilateral agreements would serve to overcome difficulties of tradesmen, as non-institutional areas of trade created problems for business.

$10 billion trade target

“Greek investments in Turkey reached $6.6 billion in 10 years, putting Greece the fifth-most-invested country in Turkey,” Gül said at his meeting with Samaras earlier in the day, at his residence in the Tarabya district of Istanbul.

He said the number of Turkish companies investing in Greece had also increased significantly, especially in banking and maritime affairs, adding that new cooperation opportunities on energy and tourism could be considered.

Resolution of historical political issues – most significantly the Cyprus issue - would lead to the development of even stronger economic bonds, Erdoğan also added, putting particular stress on the benefits and actual easiness of a solution, which would further develop a peaceful environment for investments and trade.

He said the price of wars and disputes was high for countries, both economically and emotionally, and his government along with Samaras’ would be able to “overcome the Cyprus issue and resign the ongoing problems to history.”

“I believe we [the Turkish government] can resolve this [Cyprus] issue with the Samaras government, which also has a strong will, by taking steps forward. I hope we will secure important results for regional peace, security and stability.”

Also touching upon the continental shelf issue, Erdoğan said the two countries had been in talks for a while and he saw no reason not to reach a consensus over controversial issues, as long as the intentions of the parties were good. 

The question of oil and gas exploration in the Aegean was one of the key issues on the agenda, and both leaders made only brief references to it. Both Athens and Ankara recently sent diplomatic notes to the United Nations to complain about the other side’s stance on the issue.

Samaras said the continental shelf rights Greece had as a result of the Law of the Sea were “clear.” 

Erdoğan said the two sides would be in a win-win situation if they could come to an agreement on the issue.

Erdoğan, who referred to his Greek counterpart Samaras as “my friend,” said Turkey and Greece had signed 25 bilateral agreements in Istanbul.

The new deals, which differ across a wide area of cooperation from health to culture and tourism, illegal immigration and energy, has put the number of agreements between two countries to 47 in total. 

Turkish and Greek foreign ministers finalize more than 20 agreements

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu attended a working group meeting with his Greekcounterpart, Dimitris Avramopoulos, in Istanbul on March 3, finalizing more than 20 agreements a day before a Turkish-Greek High Level Strategic Partnership Council summit. 

Both ministers overviewed the agenda of tomorrow’s meetings and finalized the more than 20 agreements expected to be signed during the summit. 

The delegations of the two countries expressed their satisfaction with the number of agreements and said the council’s second summit would add dynamism and boost bilateral relations. They also agreed to closely follow the implementations of the agreements and stay in close touch in the upcoming period. 

Avramopoulos and Davutoğlu also met Feb. 15 in Ankara to conduct preparations for the gathering. 

“[While] boosting good relations between Turkey and Greece, we want to create a model network of relations for the region and for the eastern Mediterranean,” the Greekminister had said regarding moves to expand the areas of cooperation between the two neighbors.