ABSTRACT
The Eastern Mediterranean is going through interesting times. As oil started to be pumped out of the Middle East, Cyprus served as London's outpost, for securing the uninterrupted flow of the vital energy resource for the formidable industrial machine of the British Isles. Anthony Eden's time-honored assessment of the strategic value of Cyprus and his determination to maintain strategic control over it as an indispensable station post en route to the energy-rich Middle East had proven to be true. According to Ankara's logic, the sea zones in the region for the purposes of exploration and use of natural resources should be divided between Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Israel. The recent gas finds in the eastern Mediterranean between Israel and Cyprus as well as Greece's eagerness to exploit the natural resources has put the question of exclusive economic zones once again in the spotlight.
