Turkey Vows to Stand Against 'Pirates' Seeking to 'Take Our Rights Away', Favours East Med Dialogue

Turkey will not accept any plans or maps that aim to limit the country to the coasts off southern Antalya, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, while underscoring that his country wants peace, cooperation and justice in the Eastern Mediterranean rather than tensions, reported Daily Sabah.

"We are not after exploiting anyone's rights but are only taking a firm stance against pirates that try to take our rights away," said Erdogan in a video message for the Eastern Mediterranean Workshop, organized by the International Universities Council and the Mediterranean University.

​The Turkish president added diplomacy needed to be given a chance if Greece wants a lasting solution to the problem in the Eastern Mediterranean.

​Erdogan questioned the EU’s choice to wrong Turkey in the dispute, while applauding his own country’s conciliatory stance despite the actions of the Greek Cypriot administration and the Greek government.

"The European Union should get rid of its strategic blindness and not let itself be manipulated by either the Greek Cypriots or Greece itself in the Eastern Mediterranean," said Erdogan.

The Turkish president urged neighboring countries to jointly find a win-win solution driven by common sense and sincerity.

‘Too Many Provocations’

The developments come as european foreign ministers are gearing up to discuss punitive measures against Turkey at their meeting scheduled for Monday against the backdrop of continued tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, Germany's foreign minister said on Monday, reported Reuters.

"Germany has worked hard to facilitate a dialogue between the European Union and Turkey over the past months. But there have been too many provocations, and tensions between Turkey, Cyprus and Greece have prevented any direct talks," Heiko Maas was cited as saying ahead of a meeting with European Union counterparts that will evaluate grounds for possible sanctions.

"For this reason, we will talk about what consequences we should draw - also with a view to the EU summit this week."

Concrete decisions are likely to be taken at Thursday's summit of EU leaders, who had issued a warning to Turkey in October to cease seismic exploration in disputed waters in the Eastern Mediterranean or face inevitable consequences.

Despite Turkey's move in late November to return to port for maintenance of a vessel involved in the drilling southwest of Cyprus – a decision at the time seen as helping ease tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean - EU officials and diplomats said broader issues remain.

"I'm not aware of any EU government challenging the view that the situation is worse than in October and that leaders should consider the consequences. We have been requesting a change that has not come," a senior EU official was quoted by Reuters as saying.

According to the European Union, Turkish drill and survey ships have continued operating in waters contested by Greece and Cyprus.

​The process, accordingly, renders formal talks between Greece and Turkey over maritime claims impossible.
Last week European Council President Charles Michel urged Turkey to stop playing "cat-and-mouse".

“In October, we defined a positive agenda, we reached out our hand. Turkey must stop its provocations, its hostile rhetoric,” said Michel.

Maritime Boundary Spat

Relations between Ankara and European countries deteriorated as Turkey has sent several drilling vessels over the past few months to explore for energy resources in the disputed waters of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Athens and Nicosia have voiced their objection to the presence of Turkish exploration vessels in waters claimed by Greece and Cyprus to be part of their respective exclusive economic zones.

However, the country that boasts the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean has been rejecting the maritime boundary claims of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, claiming they violate the country’s sovereign rights, as well as those of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which remains only recognised by Turkey.

Adding to the drilling row, Germany and other European nations have also suspected Ankara of violating the UN arms embargo against Libya by supplying one of the sides in the ongoing civil war there.

Back in September, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he did not expected the EU to sanction Turkey over the maritime disputes with Greece and Cyprus, while claiming the bloc had failed to work out a unified stance on the issue.