{"id":24281,"date":"2019-05-18T16:18:58","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T13:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=24281"},"modified":"2019-05-19T18:50:58","modified_gmt":"2019-05-19T15:50:58","slug":"turkish-latest-invasion-of-the-republic-of-cyprus-eez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=24281","title":{"rendered":"TURKISH LATEST INVASION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS (EEZ)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Alan Duncan MP,<\/span><\/p>\n

Minister for Europe and the Americas,<\/span><\/p>\n

Foreign and Commonwealth Office<\/span><\/p>\n

King Charles St,<\/span><\/p>\n

Whitehall, Westminster,<\/span><\/p>\n

London SW1A 2AH\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 London 16 May 2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Minister,<\/span><\/p>\n

TURKISH LATEST INVASION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS (EEZ)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I refer to your latest reply to (Labour) Rt. Hon\u00a0 Bambos Charalambous\u2019 question in the House of Commons on 14 May 2019 regarding the latest aggressive Turkish action in invading this time the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus.<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/hansard.parliament.uk\/Commons\/2019-05-14\/debates\/443BB844-2B31-4633-9D78-7B15AEA8408C\/Cyprus<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBambos Charalambous<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Will the Minister join me in condemning the decision of the Turkish Government to begin drilling for oil and gas in the territorial waters of Cyprus, which not only jeopardises the chances of a successful resumption of the peace talks but risks a return to open conflict? Will he call on Turkey to immediately withdraw its drill ships from Cyprus\u2019s exclusive economic zone?<\/span><\/p>\n

Sir Alan Duncan<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday, I met the Turkish ambassador and had very constructive discussions with him. The position of the UK is that, in line with the UN convention on the law of the sea, exploratory drilling should not proceed in any area where sovereignty is under dispute.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Minister,<\/span><\/p>\n

Your reply was not given in a \u2026 coffee shop or in a gossip column. It was a well calculated response, pre-prepared in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office having had the question well in hand in advance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, your official statement rightfully has outraged our community in the United Kingdom, our co-patriots in the Republic of Cyprus and the Government of the RoC and not only.<\/span><\/p>\n

You said that you saw the Turkish Ambassador the day before. This reference appears to give a negative impression i.e. that what the British Government supports is accepted by the Turkish Government. Hence the on going reluctance of the British Government to CONDEMN such an aggression towards a country member of the Commonwealth and to which the UK is still a guarantor power for its sovereignty and territorial integrity,\u00a0 goes on to reinforce this. \u00a0Furthermore this meeting\u00a0 with the Turkish\u00a0 Ambassador 24 hours before your reply in the House of Commons unfortunately\u00a0 is reminiscent of two previous similar actions of FO ministers in history\u00a0 that have harmed bitterly the people of Cyprus and subsequently the RoC.\u00a0 The first was on 16 December 1956 when the then Colonial Secretary Lennox-Boyd rushed to Constantinople to meet with Turkish PM A. Menderes where the latter actually dictated to him what he wanted him to say 3 days later in the House of Commons. And on the 19th<\/sup> December 1956 Lennox-Boyd did just that, he promised to Turkey that in the final solution they would not exclude partition and give separate self-determination to a minority of 18% Turks on the island.\u00a0 Rightfully justified the article by Randolph S. Churchill published in advance in The Spectator on 13 July 1956, entitled \u201c Our Turkish Foreign Secretary\u201d to which Lena Jeger MP referred to in the House of Commons Debate on 19 July 1956. (British Foreign Office released documents in the National Archives at Kew refer).<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/archive.spectator.co.uk\/article\/13th-july-1956\/6\/our-turkish-foreign-secretary<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The second was on 17 July 1974 when the then PM of Turkey B. Ecevit arrived here with half of his military and political personnel and agreed with the then Labour Government of Harold Wilson and Foreign Secretary James Callaghan to\u00a0 go ahead with the Turkish invasion. They colluded with him and gave him the green light provided he did not disturb the British Bases.\u00a0 J. Callaghan two years later admitted to the Parliamentary Select Committee that they actually\u00a0 colluded with the Turks for a change of status in Cyprus splitting the RoC into two constituent states via the racist, apartheid bi-communal, bi-zonal federal solution\u2026 Still trying for 45 years. (British Foreign Office released documents in the National Archives at Kew refer).\u00a0\u00a0 Your actions seem to\u00a0 have a lot to do with that still unfulfilled prospect\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

You stated that \u201cthe position of the UK is that, in line with the UN convention on the law of the sea exploratory drilling should not proceed in any area where sovereignty is under dispute.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since when was this UK position adopted, made known and expressed officially? Since when the UK, one of the guarantors of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the RoC disputes the sovereignty of the RoC?<\/span><\/p>\n

The EEZ\/continental shelf of the Republic of Cyprus is not under dispute. It is the Turks who are attempting to drill in the EEZ of the RoC, whose EEZ\u00a0 has been already delimited with Egypt and has been accepted by the United Nations. It has also been accepted by the USA, France and Italy that\u00a0sent their private companies to explore the EEZ of the island, ignoring the Turkish threats.<\/span><\/p>\n

I further quote here a response to your statement by Energy Minister of the RoC Yiorgos Lakkotrypis\u00a0 on the evening of 15 May 2019, given to an audience\u00a0 of investors and entrepreneurs in London, regarding\u00a0 Turkey\u2019s incursion into the EEZ. And which he told them was \u201cnot the first provocation (by Turkey) we are having, but by far the most serious one\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

This also as a response to the FCO\u2019s\u00a0 claim that \u201cthe area Turkey is threatening to start drilling has not been delineated, therefore under the law of the sea it is considered still \u201cunder\u00a0 dispute\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe spot where Turkey is trying to drill is 37 nautical miles off the coast of Cyprus. I am wondering if anyone under any circumstances through the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) can consider this area, 37 nautical miles from the coast, a disputed area,\u201d said the Cypriot Minister, pointing to a map of Cyprus\u2019 EEZ.<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/cyprus-mail.com\/2019\/05\/16\/uk-minister-frustrated-by-criticism-of-eez-comments\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Nicholas Ioannides<\/span><\/p>\n

Relevant are also the statements made today (16.5.2019) by International Law expert\u00a0 Dr. Nicholas Ioannides, during a panel discussion of this item on\u00a0 Cyprus Sigmalive TV.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cFrom the moment that the Republic of Cyprus \u2013 just as any costal state \u2013 have a continental shelf that is an inherent feature, the position of Great Britain is not accurate. The Turkish drilling rig is positioned at 36 nautical miles, very near Cyprus, and it cannot be disputed that it is within the continental shelf of the RoC and its EEZ and whilst it is positioned 83 nautical miles from the shores of Turkey\u201d, he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Ioannides characterized as unfortunate the British statements and said that the term \u201cunder dispute\u201d is not accurate, since in the theory of international law the term used is \u201cuneliminated\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.sigmalive.com\/news\/energia\/568202\/tourkikes-diekdikiseis-poia-i-apotreptiki-politiki-tis-kd-vid?fbclid=IwAR0YlQLUHxNJXNZlIbFxn5PoqzTwl6QoXTy9AJOvGWZQZMyqhSM0PMKb8_8<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The British Bases in the RoC<\/span><\/p>\n

If there is anything under \u201cdispute\u201d that is the status of the British \u201cSovereign Base Areas\u201d on the soil of the Republic of Cyprus. I remind you of the recent UK Supreme Court\u2019s deliberation in the case of Ramadan Bashir and others (Respondents) v Secretary of State for the Home Office (Appellant) of 30 July 2018. (Honourable Judges\u00a0 Lady Hale, President, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Wilson, Lord Sumption, Lord Reed and Lord Carnwath.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The court rejected the Home Office claim that in 1960 the SBAs became \u201cnew entities\u201d and ruled that they constitute colonial remnants :<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00abThe Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia consist of those portions of the colony of Cyprus that were not established by the Cyprus Act 1960 as the Independent Sovereign Republic of Cyprus and remain within Her Majesty’s sovereignty and jurisdiction. They [i.e. the SBAs] are to be regarded, therefore, as constituting a colony acquired by conquest or cession as from 5 November 1914.\u00bb\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnprecedented\u201d support<\/span><\/p>\n

Hearing your statement in the House of Commons,\u00a0 the President of the RoC Nicos Anastasiades has revealed that this was not the right stance expected from Great Britain with all its interests in the RoC\u00a0 and the support it received from\u00a0 \u201clittle \u201d RoC\u00a0 during these critical times it is going through (with Brexit) and which \u201cwere unprecedented\u201d!<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Minister,<\/span><\/p>\n

The FCO and you personally are under immediate obligation to rectify with an official statement in the House of Commons so that your statement recorded in the Hansard is corrected with a revised statement with a clear position over this issue and\u00a0 condemning\u00a0 the latest Turkish aggression against the RoC and its legitimate rights. The response given to Rt. Hon Mike Freer MP on the 14.5.2019 is unclear and ambiguous.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yours sincerely,<\/span><\/p>\n

Fanoulla Argyrou<\/span><\/p>\n

Researcher\/journalist\/author<\/span><\/p>\n

London<\/span><\/p>\n

c.c. Rt. Hon Theresa May, Prime Minister<\/span><\/p>\n

Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt, Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary<\/span><\/p>\n

His Excellency the High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus in London Mr. Evripides Evriviades<\/span><\/p>\n

Rt. Hon\u00a0 Matthew Offord MP<\/span><\/p>\n

Rt. Hon Theresa Villiers MP<\/span><\/p>\n

Rt. Hon Mike Freer MP<\/span><\/p>\n

Rt. Hon Roger Gale MP<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Christos Karaolis, President of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Michalis Ellinas\u00a0 Editor of Eleftheria newspaper in London<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sir Alan Duncan MP, Minister for Europe and the Americas, Foreign and Commonwealth Office King Charles St, Whitehall, Westminster, London SW1A 2AH\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 London 16 May 2019 Dear Minister, TURKISH LATEST … <\/p>\n

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