"On Cyprus - which is a national cause to us - we will not have negotiations just for the sake of it," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told members of Turkish Parliament's planning and budget committee on Monday.

Çavuşoğlu said Turkey, which presides over the longest stretch of coastline in the Mediterranean, had legitimate rights and interests in the maritime zones to the west and north of Cyprus.

"Our country has taken the necessary measures to protect them, and it will," said Cavusoğlu.

"We will continue to protect both our rights and continental shelf and the rights of Turkish Cypriots, for whom we are a guarantor," he added.

Turkey, as a guarantor nation for the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC), is currently carrying out hydrocarbon exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean with two drilling vessels, the Fatih and Yavuz, along with the Oruç Reis and Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa seismic vessels in the same region.

Turkey has consistently contested the Greek Cypriot administration's unilateral drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting that the TRNC also has rights to resources in the area.

The Turkish minister also called for an end to the recent protests in Iran.

"We hope the recent events in Iran may come to pass and that peace be restored as soon as possible," he said.

Çavuşoğlu noted that Turkey had always been against sanctions on Iran.

Protests broke out across Iran since Friday after the government imposed petrol rationing and raised gasoline prices.