Borrell Says Turkey's Agenda Not Aligned with EU Security Interests

On Saturday, Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said that Turkey’s active and unilateral involvement in Libya and Syria has been increasingly perceived as not aligned with the security interests of the EU itself nor with the understandings reached amongst all member states, calling on Ankara to reconsider its policies.

In a statement, Borrell said that tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean and relations with Turkey have been one of the greatest EU challenges in 2020 and this will likely remain the case for 2021.

He noted, "Mutual expectations from the 2016 EU-Turkey Joint Statement, which followed the outbreak of the migration crisis of 2015, had not borne fruit."

Turkey’s international agenda is not well aligned with the EU’s and its methods are not those of the EU. Strong Turkish resistance to/and criticism of EU naval operation IRINI, reveals fundamental differences in our understanding of UN Security Council resolution imposing on arms embargo on Libya.

The EU top diplomat stated that the Memorandum of Understanding signed in November last year between Turkey and the Government of National Accord in Libya, which identified respective exclusive economic zones, has fueled serious concerns and elicited a strong response from the EU.

In addition, Borrell said that the agreement also contained clauses on military support that were in contradiction with the UN arms embargo on Libya, adding that this was soon accompanied by the continuous deployment of Turkish exploration or drilling vessels in Eastern Mediterranean, challenging directly Greece and Cyprus.

The EU official confirmed that these Turkish activities had already started earlier and had led to the development of a specific regime of EU restrictive measures aimed at protecting Cypriot waters. Unfortunately, Turkish NAVTEX notifications and vessels such as the ‘Oruc Reiss’ or the evocative ‘Barbaross’, had become household names in Brussels.

"The relationship with Turkey has deep historical roots. Its present direction of travel, however, seems to take it further away from the EU, he noted.

Borrell added that this concerns its internal developments, notably regarding fundamental freedoms, but also Turkey’s external engagement, pointing out that the latter has gained further relevance in 2020, be it in Syria and Iraq, in Libya, where it has turned the tables in very difficult moments for the Government of National Accord, or in Nagorno-Karabakh, where its support has resulted in a major victory for Azerbaijan.