Cyprus' top diplomat: gas finds could partly fund peace deal

Published June 15, 2016

Cyprus' foreign minister says potential offshore gas discoveries could partly fund the cost of reunifying the ethnically divided island as a federation.

Ioannis Kasoulides said Wednesday future gas finds could possibly underwrite funding that would be needed to compensate individuals who — under specific criteria — wouldn't get back properties lost during the 1974 conflict that cleaved the island.

Breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci made a similar remark in an interview with the AP in April.

Kasoulides said newfound gas would also boost Europe's energy security.

A field off Cyprus is estimated to hold over 4 trillion cubic feet of gas. Kasoulides said two large finds in adjacent Egyptian waters recently has reignited international interest for a mineral search in Cypriot waters.

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