U.S. acknowledge Cyprus drilling rights, Cypriot spokesman says

The U.S. respects and acknowledges Cyprus’s “self-evident sovereign right” to explore and exploit its natural resources, Cypriot government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said.

“This right is disassociated from the solution of the Cyprus problem,” Stefanou said in a statement on the website of the Nicosia-based Press and Information Office after a meeting between U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday. “The U.S. supports the process that is under way” which can benefit everyone, including the Turkish Cypriots, Stefanou said.

U.S.-based Noble Energy Inc., which has the license to carry out exploration in Block 12 of the east Mediterranean island’s offshore territory, began to drill yesterday, as Turkey threatened to send warships to the area in protest.

Cyprus is divided after Turkey invaded the northern third of the island in 1974 in response to a coup inspired by the military junta then in power in Greece. The leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities resumed reunification talks in 2008 after Greek Cypriots rejected a United Nations- brokered reunification plan.