WASHINGTON

The "outright greedy" initiatives of Southern Cyprus undermine efforts to achieve a solution to the Cyprus issue, a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday. 

"Türkiye has legitimate rights and jurisdiction in the maritime areas to the west of the Island of Cyprus, and Turkish Cypriots have legitimate rights in the maritime areas around the Island," Oncu Keceli said in a statement.

"The illegitimate and outright greedy initiatives of the Greek Cypriot Administration are detached from reality and have no validity and undermine the efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just and sustainable solution to the Cyprus issue," he said.

His remarks came in response to a question about "maritime spatial planning" approved by the Greek Cypriot administration on Wednesday.

The areas specified in the planning, which is based on a EU directive and is prepared by all member states, violate the rights of Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), said Keceli.

Türkiye registered the outer limits of its continental shelf in the Mediterranean to the UN as early as 2004 and most recently in 2020, he said.

"It has been stated from the beginning that unilateral acts of the Greek Cypriot administration, regarding maritime jurisdiction areas will not be accepted, and Türkiye’s practices in the field continue within this framework.

"This time, the Greek side's attempt to exploit the European Union's Directive on Marine Spatial Planning is seen as the latest futile effort," said Keceli, adding that Türkiye's expectations from third parties, including the EU, have not changed.

"We expect that the negative repercussions of maritime jurisdiction related issues to the solution process of the Cyprus issue should not be ignored.

"Instead of trying to create a fait accompli in the region, the Greek Cypriot side should be encouraged to develop cooperation with the TRNC by accepting that the solution to the Cyprus issue can only be possible on the basis of the realities on the Island," he said.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Türkiye is a guarantor country for the TRNC and fully supports a two-state solution on the island based on sovereign equality and equal international status between its two states.