The meeting of the National Council on Foreign Policy took place in a spirit of pursuing national understanding in view of, among other things, the need for specifying the measures the European Council decided to take regarding Turkey’s provocative actions in the Cypriot EEZ.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs elaborated on the actions Greek diplomacy has taken in recent months, in close cooperation and consensus with Cyprus, to defend the national interest, on the level of the European Union, at the UN, and on a bilateral level with the U.S. and countries in the region.
The result of these coordinated actions was the inclusion of the issue in the U.S.-Turkey agenda and the EU’s recent key decision to take measures against Turkey, which had never happened before, even in times of crisis.
Mr. Katrougalos explained that these measures reflect the view of our European partners that the issue is not simply bilateral in nature, but concerns the whole of the European Union, given that Turkey’s actions dispute the sovereign rights of a member state, the Republic of Cyprus, as well as European energy policies, while they also impede European energy companies. Moreover, he stressed that the borders of each member state are also European borders, and, in the same way, Cyprus’s EEZ is the EU’s EEZ. For this reason, and for the first time, Europe went from words to deeds, announcing that it would impose sanctions. He also mentioned the measures that are under discussion. Finally, it was stressed that Greeks should feel safe and that Turkey’s moves are not a show of force, but a show of weakness and isolation.
June 26, 2019