ONGOING

WASHINGTON - Turkey and Greek Cyprus should exercise caution over a dispute concerning Greek Cypriot plans to exploit oil and gas resources off the coast of the island of Cyprus, a spokesman for the US State Department said late Thursday.The US urged all parties to avoid any misunderstandings that might result in mishaps, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told a daily press briefing.“Ultimately what needs to happen is that the parties should get back to the root causes of the dispute,” he said. “And the pathway, we believe to that, is open via the UN. Under-Secretary General Gambari has made some proposals in this regard and we would urge the parties to look at those seriously.”Ankara has expressed its displeasure at the Greek Cypriot administration signing agreements with Lebanon and Egypt setting out zones for exploring for gas and oil reserves in the waters between the three states. Turkey says that the deals ignore the rights of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).However, Turkey has denied that it has deployed extra warships to the area off the coast of Cyprus