QA-1, 2 January 2020, Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hami Aksoy, in Response to a Question Regarding the Signature of the Agreement on the EastMed Project

The signature of the agreement on the EastMed natural gas pipeline project is the latest instance of futile steps, aiming to exclude Turkey and TRNC in the region. Any project disregarding Turkey, who has the longest coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Turkish Cypriots, who have equal rights over the natural resources of the Island of Cyprus, cannot succeed. We bring this fact once more to the attention of the international community.

Turkey is the most commercially feasible and secure route for the utilization of the natural resources in the Eastern Mediterranean and their transfer to the consumer markets in Europe, including Turkey. Refusing to cooperate both with us and Turkish Cypriots in spite of this fact, is actually a direct manifestation of some countries’ pursuit of futile political motivations instead of cooperation. We remind the proprietors of the project that such sordid plans will continue to fail in the future, as they did in the past.