“Cyprus has been very deliberate in moving ahead with its gas and oil explorations in accordance with the letter and spirit of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he said.
He was hopeful that the discovery of vast energy reserves will serve as a catalyst to restart talks to reunify Cyprus.
Those talks have stalled since Dervis Eroglu assumed the presidency of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 2010.
“Since Eroglu assumed power, we have not seen any progress whatsoever; in fact, we have seen backtracking,” Mr. Anastasiades said.
But, Mr. Anastasiades, who describes himself as an optimist, said: “We will not give up.”
“The commitment on our part to … make the talks succeed is absolute. There is no priority greater than that,” he added.
© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
Ashish Kumar Sen is a reporter covering foreign policy and international developments for The Washington Times.
Prior to joining The Times, Mr. Sen worked for publications in Asia and the Middle East. His work has appeared in a number of publications and online news sites including the British Broadcasting Corp., Asia Times Online and Outlook magazine.
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