EU says ties with Turkey at turning point

The European Union (EU)’s top diplomat has warned that the bloc’s relations with Turkey are at a “watershed moment in history,” urging Ankara to defuse tensions with neighboring Greece over maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean.

According to reports, Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, made the remarks in a speech he delivered to the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, warning that the EU-Turkey relations would “go to one side or the other, depending on what happens in the next days.”

His comments come as Turkey and Greece are at loggerheads over hydrocarbon resources and naval influence in the eastern Mediterranean.

For the past month, Turkey had been sailing a seismic research vessel and escorting warships through an area in the sea that is disputed by Athens to map out possible oil and gas drilling prospects. Greece had dispatched its own naval ships to monitor the Turkish vessels.

Member states of the EU, particularly France, have supported Greece in the dispute and threatened Ankara with sanctions.

Elsewhere in his remarks on Tuesday, Borrell pleaded with EU leaders for more dialog with Ankara, even though he acknowledged that “the situation has worsened.”

EU leaders are set to meet next week to discuss Turkey.

SS