Erhürman: “The activities of international companies are beyond the limits of law and legitimacy”

Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman stated that the activities of international companies operating in the field of natural resources around Cyprus were beyond the limits of law and legitimacy.

Prime Minister Erhürman delivered a speech on the second day of the 9th Bosphorus Summit International Cooperation Platform.

Stating that what is going on today in the world shows the importance of the categories of the summit, Erhürman emphasized the importance of the fair share of the riches of the world.

Erhürman added: “If the wealth of the region is shared fairly, then peace will be sustainable. When fair sharing does not happen for everyone, but only for privileged groups, then it would not be possible to maintain peace”.

In his speech, Erhürman also mentioned the latest stage reached on the Cyprus issue, adding that no result could be achieved from the efforts because of not reaching a common understanding regarding the sharing of the resources on the island.

Erhürman indicated that the available window of important opportunities could not be evaluated and the most important of these was the opportunity to join the EU in 2004. Erhürman noted that if the process had been managed correctly, there would be no tension in the issue of hydrocarbon today and that wealth could become a common wealth for all the people living on the island.

Prime Minister Erhürman stated that they offered two proposals to the Greek Cypriot side for a fair share of the riches of the island and one of them is suspension of the activities on this issue until reaching a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem; if this is not possible then to create a joint committee consisting of the two communities to carry out these studies and the income to be obtained from these resources to be used for the needs resulting from the comprehensive solution.

If these proposals could not be accepted, Erhürman reiterated that the Turkish Cypriot side had signed a continental shelf agreement with Turkey in 2011 and the Turkish Petroleum Corporation was licensed to conduct research in the region.