Greece wants EU diplomatic pressure on Turkey over Aegean, East Med
Greece on Monday urged the European Union to put political and diplomatic pressure on Turkey to end its illegal activity in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.
Speaking on Sto Kokkino radio ahead of a summit between EU President Donald Tusk, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Varna, Bulgaria, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said Turkey’s repeated provocations and aggressive rhetoric were undermining regional stability.
“Turkey must return to the path of legality and reason, and I think that this will be the aim of Juncker and Tusk in Varna,” Tzanakopoulos said. “We also await to see what Erdogan’s stance will be,” he said.
“What is important for us is that [the EU] utilizes every political and diplomatic pressure on Turkey so that it will switch back to a behavior that will not cause problems in the wider region,” the Greek official said.
Tzanakopoulos also welcomed last week’s European Council statement which called on Ankara to respect the sovereign rights of Cyprus to explore and exploit its natural resources in accordance with EU and international law.
“The important thing is that Europe presented a united and determined stance,” he said.
