Turkey on Friday sharply criticized an EU document published Wednesday, accusing the bloc of adopting an approach toward Ankara that “lacks strategy and fairness.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said the references to Turkey in the document were “devoid of a strategic and fair approach” and argued that it ignored Ankara’s status as an EU candidate country.
Keceli also rejected the document’s references to the Eastern Mediterranean as “baseless allegations,” saying they showed the EU had not moved beyond “a biased and distorted understanding.”
He said the document appeared to downplay Turkey’s role in NATO, following a recent alliance summit where Ankara’s “indispensable role” was reaffirmed. Keceli said “the foundations were laid for a new era” in which European allies would take on greater responsibilities within NATO.
On Cyprus, Keceli repeated Ankara’s position that the Greek Cypriot side was responsible for the stalled peace process. He cited the rejection of a UN-backed settlement plan by Greek Cypriots in 2004 and the collapse of talks at the 2017 Conference on Cyprus in Crans-Montana.
