Turkey slams declaration adopted by EU’s Med states

The EUMED 9 summit declaration statement on Friday drew a scathing response from the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Saturday, which dismissed it as biased, shortsighted and disconnected from reality.

“We call on the European Union signatory countries to abandon their unilateral stance. They are following Greece and Cyprus blindly under the pretext of solidarity,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic said in a written statement.

The political declaration signed in Athens on Friday by leaders from Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Cyprus, as well as the Portuguese foreign minister and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, emphasized that “a peaceful, stable, secure and prosperous Mediterranean is a strategic priority for the European Union.”