In a strong response, while simultaneously submitting a written question to the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy issues, Kaja Kallas, the PASOK MEP and member of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nikolas Farantouris, proceeded on the occasion of her visit to Ankara and the joint communiqué issued with the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos and the Commissioner for Internal Affairs & migration Magnus Brunner.
The joint communiqué underlines the “strategic value” of the Turkey-EU partnership for regional security, stability and resilience.
In his intervention - written question to the European Commission, Mr. Farantouris points out that the communiqué does not include the slightest reference to Ankara's ongoing provocations against two member states of the European Union, which are in fact included in the recent Report of the European Parliament on Turkey.
The Greek MEP requests clarifications on whether the High Representative raised during her meeting with the Turkish leadership:
- the questioning of Greek and Cypriot maritime zones.
- the revisionist and expansionist theory of the “Blue Homeland” and the efforts for its institutional entrenchment.
- Turkey's obstruction of the Greece–Cyprus electricity interconnection, a project of strategic importance for the European Union itself,
- d) the exclusion and maneuvers to downgrade the Republic of Cyprus in the processes ahead of the COP31 World Climate Conference in Antalya in November.
Mr. Farantouris stresses that “the credibility of European foreign policy cannot be built on silence in the face of revisionist practices directed against member states”.
As he emphasizes, the European Union is an organization of 27 equal states. Its strength lies in its solidarity and unity. Turkey challenges the sovereign rights of member states, obstructs European projects of common interest and directly threatens European cohesion. “Since when can a strategic partner threaten member states of the European Union itself?”, he notes characteristically.
In statements from Brussels this morning, Nikolas Farantouris stressed: “Whatever Turkey's geopolitical position may be, we will not allow it to be turned into an alibi for tolerance toward behaviors that violate the fundamental principles on which the European Union was built. European credibility is tested when strategic cooperation prevails over the Union's own values and interests. We will not allow it”.