Summit: Night Battle for Carrot and Whip Mix in Turkey | POLITICS

The battle for the mixture of “whip and carrot” in Turkey is fought at the Summit, where the battle for words and final wording continues unabated.

Shortly before 22:00 Greek time, the five-day emergency meeting held in Brussels to break the deadlock between Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Angela Merkel, Emanuel Macron, Nikos Anastasiadis and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, ended.

At the extraordinary meeting it was agreed to draw up another draft with corrections, as the first was rejected by both Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the President of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiadis.

As government spokesman Stelios Petsas noted in a statement, it was not balanced.

Charles Michel presented a new draft

According to KYPE, Charles Michel delivered a new draft of conclusions for Turkey to the 27 delegations of the EU member states. The new text builds on the previous two and adds to the EU’s strong condemnation of illegal Turkish drilling in the Cyprus EEZ. Notes that the EU is “fully committed to solving the Cyprus question”, retains the phrase “use all means” in the event of unilateral action by Turkey, commits the Council to take decisions before December, and includes the Greek phrase “delimitation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zones”.

In accordance with Political The new draft removes the previous report on the distribution of hydrocarbon resources in the Cyprus region.

During the overnight consultation, as prescribed, government sources expected 3-4 drafts to be submitted to reach consensus. “The drafts are not set in stone, the consultation is ongoing,” said the same sources.

The leaders went to dinner to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh and the Navalny affair, and the new draft conclusions will be discussed shortly thereafter.

The dinner menu “27” included bean salad and stuffed quail, grilled Iberian pork fillet with grilled vegetables and raspberry sorbet.

Government sources await new draft and it is estimated that it will satisfy the Greek requests.

Athens submitted a draft proposal. According to Politico, quoting a senior Greek official: “They will go back to a second draft, which will be better than the first, after dinner.”

The second draft under discussion has a paragraph with strict wording for Turkey, but it does not mention the word “sanctions”, according to the official, but the word “tools” and in particular stated that “The EU is ready to use all the tools and means at its disposal to guarantee the respect and territorial integrity of Greece and Cyprus.».

According to a Cypriot official, the debate on Turkey at the Summit is likely to continue on Friday.

The 5 points of the Greek proposal at the Summit

• “The EU remains committed to creating an environment of trust and an environment of mutually beneficial cooperation and cooperation with Turkey.”
• “Unilateral exploration of hydrocarbons must end immediately”
• “While Turkey engages in a dialogue in good faith and refrains from taking unilateral actions that would go against the interests of the EU and violate international law and the sovereign rights of Member States, which is an absolute precondition”
• “The EU welcomes the steps to build trust between Greece and Turkey and the announcement of the resumption of direct exploratory contacts for the delimitation of the continental shelf and the EEZ of the two countries, through negotiations and recourse to the International Court of Justice “
• “The EU reiterates that unilateral declarations of maritime jurisdiction as in the map of the Blue Homeland do not comply with the Law of the Sea and do not produce legal effects for third countries.”

The consultations came after the Athens “lockdown” on the EU draft conclusions, which did not satisfy the Greek side. According to a government source, there will be many changes and additions to the first text.

In anticipation of the suspenseful night in Brussels, at the leaders’ dinner, the government source said: “A first draft of the conclusions has been published, which is not acceptable to us and still requires a lot of work. We do not want to dramatize it, but we want to show that we will not accept a text as it is and will work to change it to more fully reflect the positions of Greece. “

The draft conclusions also provoked a reaction from Nikos Anastasiadis, as it contained reports that did not satisfy the Cypriot side.

Merkel “finger” the draft with a slight reference to Turkey

It is clear that the draft, which includes a slight reference to Turkey, was the result of the influence of Germany, which does not want sanctions against Ankara. This is also evident in the statements of Chancellor Merkel, who, while attending the Summit, stated that we want a constructive relationship with Turkey and opposed sanctions.

Angela Merkel reportedly does not want a report on the sanctions, citing the agreement announced today on a mechanism to avoid tensions between Athens and Ankara under the auspices of NATO.

The Summit was interrupted for 45 minutes.

Due to the Greek reaction, the meeting was interrupted at 20:10 (Greek time) for 45 ‘, as announced by the representative of Charles Michel, in order to mediate the consultations and rewrite the draft.

The draft of the Synod blocked by Athens

“The EU has a strategic interest in a stable and safe environment in the Mediterranean and in developing cooperation and a mutually beneficial relationship with Turkey. All disputes must be resolved through peaceful dialogue and in accordance with international law. In this context, the European Council reiterates its full solidarity with Greece and Cyprus, whose sovereign rights must be respected. “The EU is ready to use all means at its disposal to promote these objectives”, states the draft that “saw” the KYPE.

“The EU welcomes the recent confidence-building steps by Greece and Turkey, as well as the announcement that they will continue their exploratory talks.” These efforts must continue and expand. “

“At the same time, violations of the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus must cease.” The European Council calls on Turkey to refrain from conducting unilateral hydrocarbon exploration activities in disputed maritime areas, in violation of international law, and to enter into a dialogue aimed at resolving all maritime disputes between Turkey and Cyprus. “

“The European Council supports the rapid resumption of negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations to reach an agreement on the establishment of a bizone and bicommunal federation with political equality. The problems of migration and income distribution of the hydrocarbon resources. “The EU is ready to play an active role in supporting the negotiations, including appointing, after the resumption (of the discussions), a representative in the UN mission.”

The “carrots” to Turkey

However, the draft also had some “carrots” for Turkey:

As long as constructive efforts continue to address the problems in the Eastern Mediterranean, the European Council has agreed:

• support and encourage the deepening of direct talks between Greece and Turkey at the political and technical level;
• launch a positive political agenda between the EU and Turkey, with special emphasis on the modernization of the customs union and trade facilitation, human contacts, high-level dialogue and permanent cooperation on migration, in accordance with the Declaration 2016 EU-Turkey. The European Council asks its President, with the support of the President-in-Office and the High Representative, to develop a proposal to revitalize the EU-Turkey agenda.

Finally, the Summit calls for a Multilateral Conference on the Eastern Mediterranean and asks the High Representative to start talks on his organization. Details such as participation, scope, and timing should be agreed with all parties involved.

The conference could address issues that require a multilateral solution, including maritime demarcation, security, energy, migration and economic cooperation.