The Turkish Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez said ‘We will protect the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people as well as those of Turkey for all time’.

Speaking at a budget planning meeting at the Turkish Grand National Assembly Minister Dönmez pointed out: ‘We are currently conducting the fourth drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean. We will keep drilling until we find the gas. The initiator of the present problem is the long-standing incompatible attitude of the Greek Cypriot Administration. If the Annan Plan had been accepted in 2004, we would not be discussing this issue now. Although there are some threats to our country in the Eastern Mediterranean we do not take them into consideration, we will continue drilling’.