COMMENTARY: Turkey Must End Its Megalomaniac Threats, Leave Cyprus

Recep Tayyip Erdogen, prime minister of Turkey, this week lashed out at Cyprus'government for its "madness for an oil search" in the Mediterranean Sea.

He also threatened the Cyprus government by saying that Turkey was sending warships to the area, in an effort to force Cyprus to end its oil exploration.

Erdogen's threat can be compared to a small child having a temper tantrum, because a neighboring child was given a new scooter or other toy that he would have wanted to receive.

In the first place, Turkey has no authority whatsoever to be testing the waters off the coast of Cyprus, because Cyprus is an independent -- and predominantly Greek-inhabited -- nation in the Mediterranean Sea.

Turkey illegally seized the northern third of Cyprus in 1974 by taking advantage of a power crisis on the island between Greece and Cyprus, and sending thousands of Turkish troops to the island at that time. Turkey has maintained its illegal control of northern Cyprus to the present day, and is the only country in the world to recognize it.

The European Union (EU) and the United Nations have condemned Turkey's control of northern Cyprus, and have said it should relinquish its control of it. In fact, the EU has told Turkey -- in no uncertain terms -- that it must relinquish its control of northern Cyprus before it can become a member of the EU, which Turkey eagerly would like to do.

Needless to say, Turkey's audacious threat to Cyprus for exploring the waters off its own coast for oil is an incredible threat -- and even borders on megalomania. The fact is that Turkey itself has no more right to explore the Cypriot waters for oil than the Congo -- or any other country.

Moreover, Turkey has no right to tell Cypriots that they cannot explore their own waters.

If Turkey wants to explore the Mediterranean Sea for oil, it is free to do so along its own huge Mediterranean coastal waters, but not off Cypriot waters.

Insofar as Cyprus is concerned, the best thing Turkey can do is to take its 35,000 troops out of the northern sector of the country, and return that illegally-controlled portion of the island to the government of Cyprus.

Then -- and only then -- will Turkey be eligible to join the European Union.