‘‘We can have results only if we can decide together,’ the minister
says.

“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 Greek Cyprus’
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 Aegean
Sea remains a cause of contension between the two countries as the
two cannot agree over the borders of the continental shelf.

Turkey started explorations
with Turkish Cyprus off the north of the island after Greek Cyprus went ahead with offshore drilling
activities in the Mediterranean.

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 Turkey, said
Yıldız.