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Ankara- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to appease the ire of the European Union ahead of the upcoming European summit in March, which is supposed to debate the imposition of tougher sanctions on Turkey due to its provocations against Greece in the eastern Mediterranean.
A spokesman for the European Commission, Peter Stano, said that the European Union will support Greece, if asked to do so during the upcoming exploratory talks with Turkey.
The 61st round of exploratory talks between Turkey and Greece will begin in Istanbul on January 25, while the first round of exploratory talks between the two countries was launched in 2002, in order to prepare the ground for a “just, lasting and sustainable solution. complete “accepted by the two sides for the Aegean Sea problems, and the last round was held. Of them on March 1, 2016 in the capital, Athens.
After that date, the negotiations between the two countries continued in the form of political consultations, without returning to an exploratory framework again, due to Ankara’s withdrawal from its commitments and the adoption of unilateral measures.
Observers believe that the regional changes depicted in the Arab-Israeli peace agreement and the arrival of Joe Biden to the White House led Turkey to review its policies towards areas it considers an extension of its influence, in order to avoid isolation. international whose characteristics are taking shape.
They note that the efforts of Turkish officials to normalize relations with the European Union seem more serious and credible this time, in contrast to earlier times when Ankara announced its willingness to overcome obstacles but failed to fulfill its obligations.
Turkey enraged Greece and the European Union last year when it sent an exploration and drilling ship into waters over which Greece also claims sovereignty. The ship returned to the Turkish shores, but the dispute between the two countries still exists over the extension of the other’s continental shelf in the Mediterranean and the rights to exploit resources.
Last year, the European Union threatened possible sanctions against Ankara over the dispute, but suspended any action until March. In recent weeks, Turkey has repeatedly called for ties with the union to be strengthened.
In early December, France led the European Union’s efforts to impose preliminary sanctions on Turkey, and tougher sanctions will be imposed next March in light of the European assessment of Ankara’s behavior in the eastern Mediterranean.
The preliminary sanctions included people working in the field of gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, while the sanctions were not directed at the Turkish economy, leading observers to consider them “insufficient.”
Observers attribute the lack of sanctions targeting the Turkish economy to a state of division within the corridors of the European bloc, at a time when countries like Germany, Italy and Spain are supporting more negotiations, Austria and France calling for tougher stances towards Ankara.
Writer David Gardner believes that the European Union still has a means of pressure, as more than half of Turkish trade and investment are European, and “Turkey urgently needs a strengthened customs union, the rules of which can help strengthen the rule of law. in ruins, but the European Union needs to be more. Watch over other things Turkey may want. “
Last Saturday, Erdogan stressed that joining the European Union and speeding up the establishment of a customs union is one of Ankara’s political priorities, as Turkey sees its future as linked to the European family.
In a hypothetical meeting with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Turkish president highlighted the importance of resuming the periodic summits between Turkey and the European Union, expressing her desire to open a new page in Ankara’s relationship with Europe with the start of the new year.
Writer Burhanuddin Duran says that “tensions between Turkey and the European Union regarding the latter’s threat to impose sanctions have not ended yet, and the two sides have another three months to resolve their differences.”
Doran notes that European leaders also want to coordinate efforts with the United States regarding Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean, which means they prefer to wait for Biden to take power.
The writer claims that over the next few months, Western governments will decide on the new structure of the “Western alliance” and the nature of their alliance with Turkey, as this decision will be based mainly on geopolitical realism when confronting Erdogan.
