Gas feud may raise Cyprus partition option, Turkey says

Turkey's deputy prime minister has said Cyprus' formal partition may come up as an option in renewed talks to reunify the ethnically divided island if Greek Cypriots don't share newfound gas deposits with Turkish Cypriots. Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay was speaking on Saturday at celebrations marking Turkey's 1974 intervention on the island that followed a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared independence in 1983, but only Turkey, which maintains 35,000 troops there, recognizes it. Turkey strongly objects to a search for mineral deposits by the Greek Cypriot administration, which is internationally recognized, but not by Ankara. Atalay's remarks were interpreted as a growing frustration in Ankara over sharing of the energy reserves off divided Cyprus. Turkey has long warned the Greek Cypriot government against unilateral moves to extract natural gas and oil reserves off Cyprus, saying the Turkish Cypriots, who run their own state in the north of the island, also have a say on these reserves. This is the second time this year Ankara is using the rhetoric of partition in divided Cyprus after 30 years of not touching upon it. Back in March, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said if Greek Cyprus insists on using hydrocarbon reserves off the island to overcome its debt crisis without the consent of the Turkish Cypriots, Turkey is ready to discuss a two-state solution on the island. Greek Cypriots say both sides can share in the potential bounty after a reunification accord is achieved. Observers argue a speculated gas pipeline from Israel to European markets via Turkey could add a new dimension to discussions with Greek Cyprus possibly joining this new route. Cyprus has been divided into a Turkish north and a Greek Cypriot south since 1974, when Turkey sent troops in the aftermath of a Greek-inspired coup to unite the island with Greece. In 2004, a UN plan to reunite the island, backed by Turkey, collapsed because the Greek Cypriots rejected it in a referendum. Talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders to reach an agreement on a reunification plan have failed to produce any breakthrough. The talks are on hold as Greek Cyprus' newly elected leader, Nicos Anastasiades, is focused on the debt crisis.