Cevdet Yilmaz, Vice President of Turkey, said Ankara will never give up protecting its rights and those of Turkish Northern Cyprus arising from international law in the eastern Mediterranean.
Yılmaz’s statement came in a televised interview held at the Turkish Embassy in Lefkos, the capital of northern Turkish Cyprus, as part of a two-day visit, his first since taking up his new position in early June 2023.
Yılmaz explained that the eastern Mediterranean region is a very important geographical area and has economic potential, given that there are interests of many countries around it, and emphasized that Ankara, by its force, prevented attempts to isolate Turkey and northern Cyprus and exclude them from the region.
The same source said that the maritime demarcation agreement between Turkey and Libya at the end of 2019 was one of Turkey’s most important moves that prevented attempts to take Turkey out of the equation in the eastern Mediterranean.
He added: “Thanks to this agreement, all plans against us were thwarted and a new equation was established in the region. We will never fail to defend our rights and the rights of Turkish Northern Cyprus arising from international law in the eastern Mediterranean. “
On November 27, 2019, Turkey and Libya signed two memorandums of understanding regarding security and military cooperation and the definition of areas of maritime jurisdiction, with the aim of protecting the rights of the two countries arising from international law.
On the other hand, the Turkish Vice President drew attention to his country’s calls for countries in the region, especially Greece and Cyprus, to cooperate to share the region’s energy potential without excluding either side at the expense of the other.
Turkey reaffirms its rejection of the claims of Greece and Cyprus regarding their possession of areas of maximum maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as well as their unilateral actions that ignore the rights and interests of Turkey and Turkish Cyprus in the region, and calls for a fair distribution of the wealth of the region.
Source: Anatolia