Turkey slams EU statement on its East Med activities

The conclusions made by European Union leaders on Turkey and its activities in the eastern Mediterranean were “far from reality”, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The European Union’s political leaders on Friday vowed to decide on sanctions against Turkey by the end of the year if it persisted with “provocations” in the sub-region, at a special EU summit on Oct. 1-2 to discuss Turkey’s part in a standoff with Greece and Cyprus over hydrocarbon exploration in territorially disputed waters.

Greece and Cyprus say that islands have their own continental shelves granting them extensive exploration rights, a claim Turkey contests.

Ankara, which does not recognise Cyprus as a state, claims half of the country’s exclusive economic zone on behalf of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus located on the northern third of the Mediterranean island and has repeatedly carried out warship-escorted offshore drilling in its environs.

After over a month of high political and military tensions, Ankara and Athens agreed to exploratory talks.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the outcome of the EU summit on Oct. 1-2 showed EU-Turkey relations had been taken “hostage” by Greece and Cyprus. It also regretted the absence of any reference to the Turkish Cypriots and a fair distribution of profits from hydrocarbons found within Cyprus territorial waters.

The ministry said that without a resolution to the Cyprus issue, Turkey would continue its seismic surveying activities around the island.