Natural gas discovery in Block 12 constitutes a positive prospect for the economy of the Republic of Cyprus that experiences an unprecedented economic crisis. However, the right of Cyprus for hydrocarbons exploration was never taken for granted. Turkey, a powerful country that illegally occupies the 36% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, never accepted this right of Cyprus. Thus, the aforementioned discovery can be characterised as a political success of the militarily weak island of Cyprus. The transition from a bilateral dispute -between Cyprus and Turkey- to a network-structured game and the continuous enhancement of its strategic position in the network enabled Cyprus to explore its offshore area, something unthinkable a decade before. Working Paper 37/2013 authored by Mr Stylianos Papageorgiou analyses why Cyprus needs to maintain and even strengthen its position in the network since the game continuously changes creating both opportunities and threats.
Experts
