TRNC Foreign Minister to brief Turkish officials

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Foreign Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun arrived in Turkey yesterday amidst an evolving crisis regarding drilling for natural gas and oil off the coast of Cyprus to attend the inaugural session of the Turkish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee in the new legislative year. Ozgurgun will brief committee members on the recent developments regarding Cyprus today, and meet with Turkish European Union Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis before he leaves the country on Thursday. Ozgurgun's visit follows intensified consultations between Turkey and the TRNC, made all the more necessary in the light of the crisis brewing in the eastern Mediterranean regarding hydrocarbon exploration off the coast of Cyprus. Turkey and the TRNC have been coordinating increasingly since the island's Greek Cypriot administration gave a license to US-based Noble Energy to conduct exploration and extraction activities in a zone the administration claimed as its exclusive economic territory, in line with an agreement it had signed with Israel.