Following the conclusions adopted at the Special European Council Meeting on 1-2 October, we have stated that Turkey has been in favour of de-escalation and dialogue and demonstrated its good faith by responding positively to calls to this end, and emphasized that we expected now reciprocal steps in order to achieve concrete results.

It is not surprising that the EU, ignoring once more Turkey’s theses with its usual judgmental and prejudiced posture, identifies Turkey’s determination to defend both its rights and those of the Turkish Cypriots as “provocation” in today’s meeting. The EU’s continuation of the discourse of sanctions, instead of encouraging dialogue, reconciliation and an unconditional positive agenda, reveals also that the extent of its aim and the language it uses are distant from sincerity and constructiveness.

The EU should focus on solving problems by respecting the rights of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots in the region with an agenda of common interest and common future. Hence, it should cease to surrender unconditionally to the irrational and spoiled demands of Greece and the Greek Cypriot side. It should be noted that the language of threats will never yield results regarding Turkey. We expect the EU to deliver concrete, impartial solution-oriented recommendations, which serve our common interests, instead of threatening Turkey.