Israel is fully committed to the agreement on the delimitation of the EEZ signed with the Republic of Cyprus in 2010, its Ambassador to Cyprus Sammy Revel has told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) invited to comment on statements by Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, who said that in order to sign an agreement with Turkey similar to the one Ankara signed with Libya, Israel must cancel the agreement it has signed with Cyprus.
“Israel respects the rights of Cyprus in exercising its sovereign rights in its EEZ,” Revel stressed in his statement to CNA, adding that “Israel is fully committed to the agreement on the delimitation of the EEZ signed with the Republic of Cyprus in 2010.”
In his statements to CNN Turk Cavusoglu also claimed that Israel had ceded some maritime areas to Cyprus and that only if the Israel-Cyprus agreement is annulled could the Turkish continental shelf be merged with that of Libya.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Turkey does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state since 2004.
(CNA)
