Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers expressed on Tuesday the Kingdom’s full support for Cyprus’ sovereignty.
According to Al Arabiya, after the meeting, which was chaired by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Μinister of media said that the Kingdom was following the recent developments in the Middle East with great interest, adding that the council expressed its concerns for security and stability in the region.
“The council expressed its concerns for security and stability in the region.”
Turki al-Shabhanah also renewed the Kingdom’s call for all parties to abide by the UN Security Council’s resolutions to resolve any dispute, in order to maintain international peace and security and stability.
Al Arabiya noted that Ankara continues “to pursue oil and gas drilling in a territory which is recognized as Cypriot.”
Turkey has dispatched drillship Yavuz to conduct a drilling operation off the south of the island of Cyprus, which has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks for a Cyprus settlement have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
“Al Arabiya noted that Ankara continues to pursue oil and gas drilling in a territory which is recognized as Cypriot.”
The Cyprus government has condemned Turkey’s newly planned illegal drilling within the Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf of the Republic of Cyprus, noting that Turkey, provocatively ignoring the repeated calls by the international community and the European Union, to terminate its illegal activities in Cyprus’ EEZ, is now attempting to carry out a “new illegal drilling in the southern EEZ/continental shelf of Cyprus, inside exploration block 8, which was duly licensed to the European companies ENI and TOTAL“.
