President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has mentioned Turkey is able to take its “deserved” place within the EU, including that its accession may treatment the uncertainties the bloc is experiencing within the wake of the UK’s departure.
Talking on Tuesday, Erdogan instructed Ankara-based Euopean ambassadors that Turkey is able to set a “constructive agenda” and scale back rigidity between Ankara and Brussels.
When it comes to the way forward for the union, the acceptance of our full membership to the EU can be an ontological selection. Brexit, with its rising uncertainty, can solely be resolved by Turkey taking its deserved place within the European household.
Referencing disagreements between Turkey and the EU in 2020, notably round hydrocarbon exploration in waters claimed by Greece and Cyprus, Erdogan insisted “Turkey is in favor of peace within the Mediterranean.”
The president emphasised that Ankara had not been out of line in 2020, a 12 months through which Turkey was broadly condemned by European leaders for its unilateral determination to discover disputed waters for hydrocarbons.
“We’re not asking for one thing that isn’t our proper to the Jap Mediterranean,” he mentioned.
“Our nation has the prevailing hydrocarbon sources within the area and our nation is attempting to guard professional pursuits. We object to makes an attempt to restrict us to the coasts of our nation on maximalist maps that haven’t any validity.”
In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on a number of Turkish officers and entities allegedly concerned in fuel drilling actions within the Jap Mediterranean amid Ankara’s disputes with Cyprus and Greece. Regardless of threatening rhetoric from EU leaders, Brussels elected to postpone a call on commerce tariffs or an arms embargo till March.
Tensions worsened within the latter a part of the 12 months as French President Emmanuel Macron started his crackdown on extremist Islam in response to terrorist assaults in France. Erdogan responded by saying Muslims in Europe have been subjected to a “lynch marketing campaign” just like what the Jews skilled earlier than World Conflict II, and labelling his European counterparts “fascists” for his or her “hostility in the direction of Islam and Muslims.”
On Monday, Turkish International Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged Greece to renew exploratory talks with Ankara on hydrocarbon sources within the Jap Mediterranean.
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