Turkey and the Northern Cyprus signed a deal on shelf border in New York on Wednesday to extract oil and gas at the island, RIA Novosti reports.
The document was signed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Leader of the Northern Cyprus Dervis Eroglu.
Erdogan said after the signing that oil and gas extraction will start at the exclusive economic zone of Northern Cyprus in a week. The navy and naval aviation will monitor the process.
The Turkish prime minister warned about sanctions for international oil and gas companies cooperating with the Republic of Cyprus.
The Greek Foreign Ministry spoke out against exploration and extraction of oil.
Spokesman of the Greek Foreign Ministry Grigoris Delaverkus said that the Turkish initiative violates the international law and decision of the UN Security Council. The deal Turkey signed with Northern Cyprus is pointless, he believes.
