EU seeks to ease tensions with Turkey

BRUSSELS, Belgium (China Daily) — Foreign ministers of the European Union’s 27 member states meeting in Brussels on Monday sought to ease their growing tensions with Turkey, a candidate vying to be part of the bloc.

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said after the meeting that there was a consensus among member states that EU-Turkey relations were currently under strain because of worrying developments affecting the EU’s interests, in particular in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya.

Turkey was the major topic of the Monday meeting.

“Ministers agreed that several serious issues had to be addressed by Turkey in order to change the current confrontational dynamic, and create an environment of trust,” he told a news conference after the meeting.

Turkey was the major topic of the Monday meeting, the first in-person meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council since the COVID-19 lockdown in March.

“Turkey’s unilateral actions, in particular in the Eastern Mediterranean, which run counter to EU interests, to the sovereign rights of EU member states and to international law, must come to an end,” Borrell said.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has been pushing for sanctions against Turkey for “violating the sovereign rights of Greece and Cyprus” over Turkey’s energy exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean. He appeared satisfied with the Monday meeting.