Greek FM calls for EU to clarify relationship with Turkey

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias presented Greece’s positions concerning recent developments in Turkey at the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Monday where he called for relations between the European Union and Turkey be grounded in honesty and consistency without conflicting messages.

“The EU must talk in a way that is understood by Turkey and not to send messages that we do not want to have relations with the country – that is, we must not send false signals,” he told his counterparts.

“We must clarify and insist that relations between the EU and Turkey must be based on international law, international rules and the European acquis, which includes respect for international treaties and Europe’s borders. This doesn’t just concern Turkey, but anybody who raises issues in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean about regional borders,” he added.

The Foreign Ministers discussed the situation in North Africa and the Middle East, and Mr Kotzias briefed his European Union partners on the results of his recent visit to Lebanon, which was carried out as a follow-up to, and in the spirit of, the Rhodes Conference for Security and Stability.

The Foreign Affairs Council agenda also included the course of the Eastern Partnership, the assessment of the implementation of the Goals set by the 2015 Riga Summit, and the evolution of the EU’s relations with the Eastern Partners.