Greek Defence Minister Panos Beglitis, left, and his Cypriot counterpart Dimitris Iliadis speak at a press conference Athens, Friday, Sept. 16, 2011. Both defended Cyprus' legal right to drill for fossil fuels off its southern coast, despite Turkey's strong opposition. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Greek Defence Minister Panos Beglitis, left, and his Cypriot counterpart Dimitris Iliadis speak at a press conference Athens, Friday, Sept. 16, 2011. Both defended Cyprus' legal right to drill for fossil fuels off its southern coast, despite Turkey's strong opposition. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Greek Defence Minister Panos Beglitis, left, and his Cypriot counterpart Dimitris Iliadis speak at a press conference Athens, Friday, Sept. 16, 2011. Both defended Cyprus' legal right to drill for fossil fuels off its southern coast, despite Turkey's strong opposition. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Cyprus' foreign minister said Friday the international community backs the island's plans to drill for oil and gas off its shores, despite Turkey's strong opposition.
Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis said the international community has afforded Cyprus political protection for the search for mineral deposits inside its exclusive economic zone, which is near to sizable gas finds within Israeli waters.
"At this moment, we have a very satisfactory shield of political support over these actions," she told state radio.
Kozakou-Marcoullis said a rig belonging to Houston-based firm Noble Energy Inc. arrived on Thursday in the area where exploratory drilling will start soon, without any interference from Turkish warships in the region thanks to help from the international community.
"We are asking for these proactive steps and I believe these proactive steps have been taken to a great degree," she said, adding that the Cyprus government has briefed U.N. Security Council and EU officials on the matter.
Cyprus was divided into an internationally recognized Greek speaking south and a breakaway Turkish speaking north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
The island is an EU member, but only the south enjoys the benefits.
Turkey doesn't recognize Cyprus as a sovereign country and opposes any Greek Cypriot oil and gas search, insisting that Turkish Cypriots should reap any windfall that may come from any discoveries. It also said drilling could damage long-running reunification talks.
The Cypriot government has said Turkish Cypriots can share in the potential oil and gas bounty once a peace deal is reached and that drilling would act as an incentive for swiftly reaching an accord.
U.N. envoy Lisa Buttenheim said any discoveries would be for the benefit of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots under the framework of a federal united Cyprus.
"The United Nations would appeal to all involved to resolve this matter in a peaceful manner and look beyond the issues to the potential benefits that a united Cyprus can bring to Cypriots and to the region," Buttenheim told reporters Friday after another round of peace talks between Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.
On Thursday, Turkey said it would strike an agreement with the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state that only it recognizes, to mark out undersea borders to facilitate future oil and gas exploration if Greek Cypriots went ahead with drilling.
The Cyprus foreign ministry said any such agreement would contravene international law and insisted it has the sovereign right to pursue drilling activities.
Tensions in the East Mediterranean heightened further Thursday after Greece protested a decision by Turkey to send a Norwegian research vessel to search for oil and gas south off the island of Kastelorizo where Athens has claimed the rights to potential undersea mineral and fossil fuel deposits.
Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras called on Turkey to avoid "any research activity that affects Greek sovereign rights in the region," saying the area is within Greece's continental shelf.
He said Greece was also contacting the shipping company of the Norwegian research vessel, and the Norwegian Foreign Ministry to make the Greek positions known.
Kastelorizo is part of an isolated group of small islands east of Rhodes, just two miles (three kilometers) off Turkey's southern coastal town of Kas.
Greece and Turkey have had disputes for 37 years over delineating the areas for exploration for oil and gas. Turkey does not accept that islands have their own continental shelf, which Greece claims is supported by international law. The two countries came close to war in March 1987 when a Turkish research ship entered the Aegean Sea.
"(Turkey's) unilateral acts and recent repeated statements effectively contribute to the creation of a climate of instability, tension and of course, of a possible regional crisis," Greek Defense Minister Panos Beglitis said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart in Athens on Friday.
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Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara, Turkey, and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens contributed to this report.
Associated Press
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