UPDATES WITH FOREIGN MINISTER’S REMARKS ON TURKISH-FRENCH TIES, MIGRATION AND EU SECURITY
By Ali Murat Alhas and Sena Guler
ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish foreign minister on Thursday said his country expected the European Union to act as an “honest broker” in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
“If you are part of the problem, how can you mediate between Turkey and Greece? Or, between Turkish and Greek Cypriots,” said Cavusoglu while addressing European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Relations via video conferencing from Senegal.
Greece has disputed Turkey’s current energy exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, trying to box in Turkish maritime territory based on small islands near the Turkish coast.
Turkey — the country with the longest coastline in the Mediterranean — has sent out drill ships to explore for energy on its continental shelf, saying that Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have rights in the region.
Dialogue for fairly sharing these resources will be a win-win for all sides, say Turkish officials.
– Deterioting Turkish-French ties
The Turkish foreign minister also shed light on how Turkey and France were not on the same page on Syria, Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean.
He said Turkey considered France its ally, but the French policy toward Turkey had changed following Ankara’s operation against YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terror group.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU — has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
“France is supporting the PKK to divide Syria. This plan was ruined, that’s why France became very angry with us,” said Cavusoglu, adding there were times when both countries had the same policy on Syria.
“I attended many meetings of the International Syrian Support Group. […] We even criticized the US for being too flexible. We were against Russian policy there,” he said.
He condemned French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement earlier in the day calling on the EU to be tough with Turkey.
He also demanded an apology from France for issuing a complaint in NATO on trumped up charges of harassment.
– Migration and EU security
Another issue Cavusoglu touched upon was the EU criticism of Turkish military operations in northwestern Syria, which played a critical role in eliminating forced migration to Europe.
“I have to be very honest with you. We stopped the influx of 3 million refugees to Turkey and maybe toward the EU. How can you criticize us for being in Idlib?” he said.
Stating that Turkey was building houses for the war-weary people in northern Syria, he said Germany and France did not keep their promise of lending help to Ankara.
“We are suffering a lot. It has been a big burden for us but still you criticize Turkey,” he said.
Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN estimates.
Turkey followed an open-door policy for Syrians fleeing the bloodshed at their homeland in an effort to protect millions of displaced people. Turkey currently stands as the world’s top refugee-hosting country with its Syrian population amounting to 3.6 million.
