Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Europe should make efforts to convince the Republic of Cyprus to settle the problem of the divided island for the sake of gas supplies to the EU.

"The most economical route to deliver gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe is through Turkey. And an equal distribution of energy resources [extracted in this region] will benefit all parties. And who will convince the Greek part of Cyprus to take concrete steps toward a settlement? Let the European Union convince them. It is the EU that needs the gas that will flow from here," he said.

He said that earlier the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus proposed several options for agreements on equal distribution of resources and revenues from them. "The Greek part did not agree with them. And we talked about this to the EU and other parties. It's not clear how long the political settlement process can go on, because the Greek part of the island is not going along with it. Nicosia says it will offer new options. Well, let's see what those proposals will be," the minister said.

According to him, in view of the worsening situation on the world energy market and the difficulties in transporting it, new routes for fuel delivery are being considered. There is potential and reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean in this regard. "Israel has large gas reserves in this region. Other countries can also work to produce in the region. Countries are thinking about diversifying supplies," he said.

According to Cavusoglu, he intends to discuss production issues in the Mediterranean Sea in May and during a visit to Israel. Such a visit was previously planned, but did not take place due to organizational issues and a mismatch of schedules of the leadership. "Now the trip is being discussed again. We plan to arrive in Israel in the third week of May. We will go to both Israel and Palestine," he said. The visit will take place as part of the normalization of relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv.