Biden heads to Istanbul amid tension over Cyprus EEZ violation
US Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Turkey's
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during a visit to Istanbul this
weekend, according to a report by the Athens News Agency on Wednesday.
Talks are expected to focus on the Cyprus issue and developments in the eastern Mediterranean region.
Speaking
ahead of the trip, an unnamed senior White House official told
reporters that it was important that the two sides on the island resume
peace negotiations and avoid actions that would result into tension, the
report said.
President Nicos Anstasiades suspended peace talks
with Turkish-Cypriots last month after Ankara violated Cyprus's
exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticized Nicosia for carrying out
hydrocarbon explorations off Cyprus at a time when reunification talks
with Turkish Cypriots are still in progress.
Cavusoglu said this
was not a “goodwill gesture” on Nicosia’s part but he played down the
significance of Turkey sending the Barbaros seismic research vessel into
Cyprus’s EEZ.
The Cypriot government, however, was unmoved by
Cavusoglu’s comments and a meeting of the National Council, chaired by
Anastasiades, led to Nicosia rejecting a suggestion by United Nations
mediator Espen Barth Eide for a technical committee consisting of Greek
and Turkish Cypriots to be created to manage the island’s hydrocarbon
reserves.
Eide had proposed the panel as one of several measures
aimed at getting peace talks restarted. Instead, Anastasiades will
propose steps that had been previously agreed by Greek and Turkish
Cypriot leaders to defuse tension. These include the creation of a
common fund for revenues from any gas or oil sold. | 
