Energy Security and the Cyprus Question: “Securitization” of Energy in the Eastern Mediterranean

In February 2014, Nikos Anastasiades, the President of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and Dervis Eroglu, the Turkish-Cypriot leader, signed a Joint Declaration establishing certain “ground-rules” upon which the then stalled peace talks -aiming at the island’s reunificationcould be revived. This evolution was arguably prompted by the discovery of new energy sources in the Eastern Mediterranean, and especially offshore the RoC. Gas had initially been portrayed as a potential catalyst for a restart of the long-standing peace process, and possibly for its successful conclusion. Nevertheless, a couple of months later, it seemed that these discoveries had worked against these aspirations and added chill to the Cyprus conflict. In October 2014, a Turkish navigational warning notified mariners that Turkey would soon perform its seismic surveys in sea areas that encroach on Cyprus’s EEZ, raising concerns on the escalation of the existing protracted conflict. Anastasiades withdrew from the negotiations, attributing his decision to these activities.

Cyprus Remembers 1974 Coup Against President Archbishop Makarios

Cyprus commemorates the dead and condemns the 1974 coup

Photo © CyprusExpat.co.uk

Today, 15th July, marks 41 years since the events which unfolded on this East Mediterranean island led to its division and occupation by Turkey. The Greek military junta, then ruling Greece, toppled the democratically elected president of Cyprus, the late Archbishop Makarios III.

Amid Sanctions Battle, Russia Courts Cyprus

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades met with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on Feb. 25 and the two countries updated their bilateral military agreement. This agreement allows Russian naval vessels to use Cypriot ports for resupply and maintenance. Anastasiades said that Cyprus is Russia's most reliable partner in the European Union and criticized EU sanctions on Russia.

This meeting highlights Cyprus' need to balance between Russia and the West. It also showcases Moscow's interest in keeping good ties with strategic members of the European Union. While the Russian government understands that Cyprus has limited influence on European affairs, Moscow is counting on several EU members to provide support to end the sanctions against it. As the sanctions start to expire in March, Russia will need as much political support as possible.

Turkey ordered to pay €90 million compensation for Cyprus invasion

Ankara reacts with fury to European Court of Human Rights ruling, 40 years after it annexed northern part of the island

Turkish Cypriots cross the Green Line into the Greek side of the divided capital Nicosia in 2004 Photo: AFP/GETTY

Europe's highest court yesterday ordered Turkey to pay €90 million (£63 million) in compensation to the victims of the 1974 invasion that left the island divided between Turks and Greeks.

Turkey reacted angrily to the landmark judgement declaring it would not be bound by the ruling and warned the intervention would damage a recent efforts at reconciliation.

Gas remains divisive issue in Mediterranean region

A man looks as the world's then-biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker Duhail crosses through the Suez Canal, April 1, 2008.  (photo by REUTERS/Stringer)

 In 2012, the Damietta gas field sparked a public debate in the region. The regime of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, however, kept its silence and did not claim Egypt's right to this field that was piled up historically due to a large submerged seamount off the coast of Alexandria. Afterward, the subject was strongly highlighted by the Egyptian media, but ousted President Mohammed Morsi’s regime kept denying the existence of this field, a true national treasure.

Economic revival and bizonal – bicommunal solution to the Cyprus problem

By Aris Petasis

Admiring Germany’s vibrant economy one tends to forget that the country became a nation just 7 years before Cyprus was ceded to the British by the Ottomans.  One equally forgets the violent past of the country during the twentieth century: two defeats in two world wars that divided the country into West and East Germany for over 45 years.

Cyprus-Greece pipeline may get ‘EU financing’

Greek Cypriot officials say a Cyprus-Greece pipeline can be financed by the EU. REUTERS photo

A proposed gas pipeline to linkGreek Cyprus to Crete and thenGreece or Italy will be in an EU list of strategic projects eligible for financial support, Greek Cypriot officials has said.

Greek Cyprus has high hopes its natural gas reserves can be developed quickly to help revive its broken economy.

The Single Most Expensive Piece Of Military Equipment Ever Has Reached A Massive Milestone

The lead ship in a new class of carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is the most expensive piece of military equipment ever created. And it now has a perfectly-laid flight deck that could one day see 6th generation fighters screeching across its surface.

As Goes Cyprus, So Goes the European Union

All of a sudden, tiny Cyprus is making headlines. How could such a small country, with an economy approximately the size of the State of Maranhao, create such big problems?

The answer is that the crisis in Cyprus epitomizes everything that is wrong with the European Union.

Most fundamentally, there is the very fact that Cyprus was allowed to adopt the euro in 2008. It was already an offshore money-laundering center. Even after problems struck other European countries with oversized banking systems, the EU looked the other way when Cyprus offered high interest rates in order to attract additional hot money. It looked the other way when the banks loaded up on high-yielding Greek debt.

"Cyprus Should Leave The Euro. Now."

Yesterday banks in Cyprus opened for the first time in a week. Markets were seemingly calmed by the absence of immediate bank runs, however the ability of depositors to actually create a bank run has been prevented by strict capital controls. The real test for Cyprus banks will come when the capital controls are finally lifted.

Cyprus money 'Gift' to US Banks

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The Unlikely Benefactor Behind A Cypriot Deal

Monday, 25 Mar 2013 | 6:30 PM ET

Dick Bove, Vice President of Equity Research at Rafferty Capital tells CNBC how U.S banks stand to benefit from a bailout in Cyprus.

Veteran bank analyst Dick Bove says the Cyprus bailout is positive for U.S. banks, because fears that European officials may target depositors in other future bailouts will lead to an outflow of money from Europe and into America.

A lot of nonsense about how the Cypriot economic model was unsustainable-euro zone will slip into depression

LONDON (MarketWatch) — A deal was always likely to be done at the last minute in Cyprus.

The sums of money were too small, and the impact of the country chaotically pulling out of the euro too catastrophic, for the two sides not to be prepared to compromise. Late at night, with a deadline looming, the two sides managed to cobble together a deal. The euro staggers on for another day.

A New Business Model for Cyprus

MADRID – Once again, Europe has peered into the abyss. But the tentative agreement between Cyprus and the troika (the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank) probably means that the worst has been avoided. Big losses for large depositors in Cypriot banks will now be imposed, and the country’s second-largest bank will be shuttered. Looking ahead, however, Cyprus has the means not only to recover, but even to heal its longstanding division with the Turkish-backed statelet in the north of the island.

Illustration by Paul Lachine

Cyprus deal best of a very bad job

Hugo Dixon

Cyprus’ economy is going to suffer terribly in the next few years. Some of that is inevitable given how bloated the banking system had become. But the disastrous handling of the crisis, especially in the past week, will make things much worse.

DIJSSELBOOM: Eurogroup President Spooks Markets

Cyprus finally got a deal done with the EU to bail out its troubled banking system last night.

Instead of levying a nationwide "tax" on bank deposits, the plan follows a more typical restructuring approach, seeing shareholders, bondholders, and uninsured depositors in the country's two biggest banks take heavy losses in restructurings.

As Cyprus Collapses, It's A Race To The Mediterranean Gas Finish Line

Cyprus is preparing for total financial collapse as the European Central Bank turns its back on the island after its parliament rejected a scheme to make Cypriot citizens pay a levy on savings deposits in return for a share in potential gas futures to fund a bailout.

Could Cyprus reignite the eurozone crisis?

Each of the crisis-hit eurozone countries shares some responsibility for its predicament. Italy used membership of the single currency as an excuse to go slow on pushing through much-needed structural reforms of its economy. The Irish and Spanish were excessively relaxed about their booming housing markets. Greece and Portugal were simply not sufficiently converged with the rest of the eurozone to be able to flourish within it; they should not have applied to join or been allowed in. At the same time, all were to a greater or lesser extent victims of the structure of the currency union and the tardy response of its member-states.
But Cyprus is different. The country really is the architect of its own misfortune. This makes finding a workable solution to the crisis even more difficult, and explains why a country with a population of around 1 million could pose a systemic threat to a currency union of 400 million.

Europe's Cyprus Crisis Has a Familiar Look

Peter Coy

To most of the world, the banking crisis that broke out in Cyprus in mid-March was as abrupt and unexpected as an outbreak of Ebola. For Cypriots, it wasn’t sudden at all. Many opportunities to steer the country in a better direction came along over the years but were missed or never tried. Now the misbegotten decision by European finance ministers to tax the accounts of ordinary depositors to help pay for a bailout of the country’s biggest banks has become a source of continentwide embarrassment.

The crisis? Merkel’s fault, of course! EL MUNDO

Effigies of Angela Merkel and Nikos Anastasiadis on display at a carnival in Limassol, Cyprus

AFPThe aid plan launched by the Eurogroup in return for a tax levied on Cyprian bank deposits has provoked violent reactions. Germany is often accused of wanting to punish a struggling country. However, it’s not the Chancellor who is to blame for the mistakes of the island, writes an economist.

Global Wealthy Question Tax Havens After Cyprus

Wealth travels wherever wealth is treated best. And for decades, Russian wealth was treated well in Cyprus. The tiny island-state has long been the largest destination for Russian capital and largest direct investor in Russia.