Turkey calls EU threat of sanctions 'unconstructive'
The continued use of the language of sanctions is unconstructive
ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey on Friday rejected the threat of sanctions by the European Union over Ankara’s gas drilling activities in the eastern Mediterranean as "unconstructive".
EU leaders warned early on Friday they could sanction Turkey if it failed to stop what the bloc views as the illegal drilling and energy exploration activities in waters claimed by Cyprus and Greece.
"The continued use of the language of sanctions is unconstructive," the Turkish foreign ministry said.
"The EU must now understand it will get nowhere with such discourse."
Tensions in the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean have eased since Ankara and Athens agreed to exploratory talks last month.
The NATO neighbours staged rival war games in the disputed waters and ramped up the rhetoric in August, prompting Greece and Cyprus to demand a robust EU response.
The EU summit statement offered Turkey the prospect of closer ties and better trade if Ankara commits to "pursuing dialogue in good faith and abstaining from unilateral actions".
Berkay Mandiraci, a Turkey analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the EU statement was "the best Ankara could have hoped for".
But while the Turkish ministry welcomed these "positive elements", it said "some parts were disconnected from reality".
The EU statement demonstrated how some countries "wanted to develop relations" with Turkey, but was also an example of how Greece and Cyprus had "taken EU-Turkey relations hostage", the ministry said.
Turkey also called on the EU to encourage dialogue between the Republic of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots in the island’s northern third to set up a mechanism to coordinate hydrocarbon activities.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup in Nicosia seeking to unite the whole island with Greece.
