ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey rejects the European Union’s “biased and illegal” approach at its summit this week and calls on the bloc to act as an honest broker in an ongoing dispute in the eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
EU leaders agreed on Thursday to prepare limited sanctions on Turkish individuals over an energy exploration dispute with Greece and Cyprus, postponing any harsher steps until March as countries sparred over how to handle Ankara.
In a statement, the ministry said a proposed conference with all eastern Mediterranean countries was an opportunity to tackle maritime issues in the region, adding that Ankara was ready for talks with Greece without any pre-conditions. It called on the EU to act “with principles, strategically and with reason”.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
