Turkey Appeases Europe, Defies Washington

The President of the European Council announced Wednesday that the European Union countries decided to punish Turkey without closing the door to dialogue with it.

This came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a phone call with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, expressed his hope to open a "new page" between his country and the European Union, in an attempt to reduce tension.

The phone call comes as part of the first contact between the two sides since Brussels imposed sanctions on Ankara last week.

It is noteworthy that the leaders of the European Union decided during a summit in Brussels, last Thursday, to impose sanctions on Turkey because of its illegal and aggressive actions in the Mediterranean against Greece and Cyprus, especially the gas exploration operations carried out by Ankara in recent months in the eastern Mediterranean in marine areas

A few days after these European sanctions, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey for its purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system.

In this context, Erdogan said Wednesday that the US sanctions imposed on Turkey will fail to achieve their goal.

He added that the US sanctions aim to harm the efforts of Turkish defense industries.

In a televised video conference, Erdogan noted that the sanctions showed a hostile stance of the United States towards Turkey, which is its NATO ally.

Moreover, the head of the Turkish Presidency's Defense Industries Corporation, Ismail Demir, said, "Ankara is determined to continue the path of developing domestic defense industries, despite US sanctions, and perhaps at a faster pace."