Turkey Sees No Need for Cyprus to Approve Israel Gas Pipeline
- Gas talks don’t depend on reaching Cyprus peace deal: official
- Turkey-Israel talks heat up after recent reconciliation
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A Turkey-Israel gas pipeline deal could be built through Cyprus’ economic waters even without Cypriot consent, a Turkish official said, dismissing what some experts see as a key obstacle to an energy deal between the two Mediterranean countries.
Cyprus can’t block a gas pipeline from Israel to Turkey, and gas talks with Israel don’t hinge on attempts to reach a peace deal in Cyprus, the Turkish official said, requesting anonymity because the matter is sensitive. A pipeline bringing gas from Israel’s Leviathan field to Turkey would need to pass through Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone and the Cypriots would be informed about the plans, but international maritime law allows the pipeline to be laid even without Cyprus’s consent, he said.