Fikri Toros

Turkey is the best route for sending offshore natural gas from Cyprus to Europe, EU Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on July 1.

Çavuşoğlu’s comments came amid growing expectations that the reserves from the Aphrodite gas field off the southern coast of Cyprus – estimated to be about 200 billion cubic meters – could prove a catalyst for peace and cooperation in the region.

Turkish and Greek Cypriot chambers of commerce, along with those of Turkey and Greece, met June 2 in the U.N.-controlled buffer zone in a bid to boost the negotiation process with both sides pledging support to the reunification of the divided island.