Ankara condemns signing of EastMed gas pipeline agreement

Turkey condemns the EastMed gas pipeline agreement signed by Israel, Cyprus, and Greece, spokesman of the country's Foreign Ministry, Hami Aksoy said in a statement.

Report informs, citing RIA Novosti, that on Thursday, the three countries signed an interstate agreement in Athens to build the EastMed gas pipeline to supply gas from Eastern Mediterranean fields to continental Europe. Energy Ministers of Israel, Cyprus, and Greece - Yuval Steinitz, Georgios Lakkotripis, and Kostis Hadzitakis inked the agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President of Cyprus Nikos Anastasiadis, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended the ceremony.

"The signing of the agreement on the EastMed gas pipeline project is yet another example of meaningless steps that are trying to ignore our country and Northern Cyprus in the region. Not a single project that ignores Turkey, which has the longest coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, and Turkish Cypriots, who have equal rights to Cyprus's natural resources, will be successful," Aksoy said in a statement.

The statement reads that Turkey is "the most cost-saving and safest route for transporting the natural resources of the Eastern Mediterranean to markets in Europe."