The discovery, the 5th in a row, of a natural gas field in the Cyprus EEZ, at the Kronos-1 target, marks a reward for the perseverance shown by the Cypriot state, despite the escalation of Turkish aggression.

The second of three Cypriot exercises planned for this year also shatters a number of illusions cultivated by appeasement politicians – regardless of party affiliation – about the Cyprus EEZ development process, the continuation of which was either held hostage to the resolution of the Cyprus issue or renewed talk of intercommunal relations.

From this point of view, the unresolved Cyprus issue will not allow the continuation and exploitation of the Cypriot reserves due to the Turkish veto, while the solution can be secured by a moratorium on the Cypriot drilling program, which will also lead to a moratorium. to the Turkish reaction. Apparently they did not understand that the introduction of a moratorium is the introduction of a moratorium on the exercise of the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus.

Another version of the same opinion was that as long as negotiations were not underway or not being sought, Turkey would escalate its aggression, so the Greek Cypriots should not “provoke” their obsession with their drilling program. Turkey will likely try with Abdul Hamit to conduct new drilling within and within the demarcated Cyprus EEZ, but will not dare to disrupt the drilling in the EEZ that led to the discoveries, and discoveries are what matter. If Turkey is committing these violations, it is because the governments, primarily Nicosia and secondarily Athens, have not consistently pursued a clear containment policy on this particular issue through the imposition of sanctions at the European level, which has led to further gentrification of Ankara.

It is important not to follow the developments and be persistent. From now on, it should be clear that Greece and Cyprus will demand – if necessary, with the threat of a veto against the usual indecisive members of the European Council – European sanctions against Turkey with targeted and escalatory measures if Turkish drilling finds a Cypriot field and tries to pirate it. At the same time, the Greek Navy’s weapons program should be accelerated at the military level (the decision on corvettes and MEKO seems to be stuck) and a serious medium and long-range anti-aircraft system should be purchased from Cyprus, which should be modernized and the coastal Exocet should be built up.

Potential deposit 2.5 trillion. cubic feet is small, but very important from a geopolitical point of view.

The potential deposit of 2.5 tkr (trillion cubic feet) is small, smaller than both Glaukos (4-5 tkr) and Aphrodite (4-4.5 tkr), but it is geopolitically very important for reasons that are denied in practice the imperialist Mavi Watan. However, the location of the field – after confirming the goal of “Calypso” – is so close to the “Glaucos” that, under certain conditions, their joint exploitation allows. This will become inevitable if discoveries of similar size are found on Jupiter-1, which is currently being drilled by ENI-Total in Block 6, or in other parts of Blocks 6, 7 and 10. And the combined potential of these potential fields can comfortably fill the Eastern Mediterranean pipeline if its layout is changed to approach them and Egypt’s participation in the project is secured one way or another.

* Dr. Theodoros Tsakiris is Associate Professor of Geopolitics and Energy Policy at the University of Nicosia.