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The EU is preparing sanctions against the Ankara government in the gas dispute between Greece and Turkey. This was announced by the EU Foreign Affairs representative, Josep Borrell, in Berlin after an informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers.
Turkey is exploring gas in offshore areas that are controversial between the country and the EU countries, Greece and Cyprus. The Turkish search for gas is taking place in an area that Greece claims for itself. Ankara, on the other hand, argues that the area near the Greek islands of Rhodes and Kastelorizo belongs to the Turkish continental shelf.
If Turkey does not give in, the sanctions could be imposed at the special EU summit on September 24, Borrell said. According to EU diplomats, there was broad consensus among foreign ministers that sanctions should be prepared. “We list people, we can have access to certain assets or ships,” Borrell said.
It is also conceivable that a ban on the use of EU ports or sanctions will be pronounced, which are important for Turkey’s energy supply, Borrell said. The aim is to stop Turkey’s activities, which the EU considers illegal.
“We want to give diplomacy a chance”
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas assured the two EU states of the full solidarity of the allies. Regarding the timetable for possible reactions, he said that the EU will not impose sanctions on Turkey before September 24. “We want to give diplomacy a chance,” Maas said. One expects direct talks between Athens and Ankara.
The conflict between EU members Greece and Cyprus and Turkey was the main topic of the two-day meeting of foreign ministers, along with the position of the European Union on the protests in Belarus against authoritarian head of state Alexander Lukashenko .
In the run-up to the talks, Maas refused to link the issue of Turkey’s sanctions to demands by individual countries for new EU sanctions against Belarus. “If we start to do that, we will be incapacitated as the European Union,” he said. At the Berlin meeting, Cyprus indirectly threatened to veto decisions against Belarus if it did not increase EU pressure on Turkey in the gas dispute.
