COMMISSION REPORT RECORDS TURKEY'S ILLEGAL ACTIONS AGAINST CYPRUS AND GREECE

 Filenews 6 October 2020

A serious setback to respect for democratic standards, the rule of law and the fundamental principles that has continued, the Commission records in its report on Turkey's accession policy, adopted by the College of Commissioners and presented to the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs by Commissioner Varheli.

The report contains a specific and detailed record of the tensions caused by Turkey in the Cypriot exclusive economic zone, illegal drilling, notes the announcements on Famagusta, records the actions against Greece and the invalid nature of the so-called Turkish-Libyan Memorandum. It also details all the measures of the dual approach decided by the European Council last week, and also records the incidents of last February - March at the Greek-Turkish border in Evros. The nature of the report is descriptive and is intended for use by the Member States.

In particular, in its report, the Commission states that "Turkey's foreign policy has increasingly clashed with the EU's priorities in the context of the common foreign and security policy. Tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean region increased further during the reporting period as a result of Turkey's illegal actions and provocative statements challenging the right of the Republic of Cyprus to exploit hydrocarbon resources in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus."

As noted in the report, "Turkey developed two drilling and two seismic vessels in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus, including areas licensed by the Cypriot Government to European oil and gas companies, as well as to territorial waters of Cyprus. The Turkish armed forces accompanied the drilling and seismic ships during their operations, creating a serious threat to the security of the region. Turkey also questioned the status of the fenced-off city of Varossia."

The Commission recalls that "the EU has repeatedly stressed the need to respect the sovereign rights of EU Member States, which include the conclusion of bilateral agreements and the exploration and exploitation of their natural resources in accordance with the EU acquis and international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea".

It makes it clear that "Turkey must make an unequivocal commitment to good neighbourly relations, international agreements and peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, by, if necessary, referring the matter to the International Court of Justice".

It notes that "in the light of Turkey's unauthorised drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, in July 2019 the Council decided on a number of measures, including being postponed for the time being as the EU-Turkey Association Council, as well as further EU-Turkey meetings at dialogue level. The EU further adopted a framework of targeted measures against Turkey in November 2019 and decided in February 2020 to add two people to the list of designations under this sanctions framework."

Recalls that "on 1 October 2020, the European Council stated that, provided that constructive efforts are maintained to stop illegal activities towards Greece and Cyprus, the European Council agreed to launch a positive EU-Turkey political agenda with particular emphasis on modernising the Customs Union and facilitating trade, people-to-people contacts, high-level dialogues , continued cooperation on migration issues, in line with the 2016 EU-Turkey Declaration."

"The European Council also stressed that in the event of renewed unilateral actions or challenges in violation of international law, the EU will use all the instruments and options at its disposal, including in accordance with Article 29 EES and Article 215 OF THE EU Treaty, in order to defend its interests and the interests of its Member States," the Commision writes.

In addition, the Commission notes that "Turkey has not yet fulfilled its obligation to ensure the full and impartial implementation of the Additional Protocol to the EU-Turkey Association Agreement and has not eliminated all obstacles to the free movement of goods, including restrictions on direct transport links with Cyprus. No progress has been made in normalising bilateral relations with the Republic of Cyprus."

It is also noted that "the signing of a bilateral memorandum of understanding on the demarcation of maritime jurisdictions between Turkey and the Libyan Government of National Agreement in November 2019 increased tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean by ignoring the sovereign rights of Greece's islands in that region".

"There has been a sharp increase in provocative actions from Turkey to Greece, particularly Turkish overflights of Greek populated areas," he says.

"In this respect, the European Council, in December 2019, unequivocally reaffirmed its solidarity with Greece and Cyprus regarding Turkey's actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea," it notes.

"He stressed that the Memorandum violates the sovereign rights of third states, does not comply with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and cannot have legal consequences for third states," the Commission writes.

Recalls that "in May 2020, EU Foreign Ministers reaffirmed the EU's position on Turkey's ongoing illegal activities in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as on Turkey's provocative and aggressive behaviour in relation to Cyprus and Greece, underlining that abstention from unilateral actions is a key element in promoting dialogue between the EU and Turkey and that Turkey's illegal actions have serious negative effects throughout the range of EU-Turkey relations".

"In October 2020, the European Council invited Turkey to accept Cyprus' invitation to open a dialogue aimed at resolving all maritime disputes between Turkey and Cyprus," it states.

In the same report, the Commission states that "the EU condemned Turkey's unilateral military action in north-eastern Syria and urged Turkey to end its military action, withdraw its forces and respect international humanitarian law".

"The vast majority of member states have decided to stop the arms export licence to Turkey," he recalls.

With regard to migration, it is noted that "Turkey has made some progress".

"Throughout 2019, Turkey committed itself to implementing the March 2016 EU-Turkey Declaration and played a key role in ensuring effective management of migration flows along the Eastern Mediterranean route," it says.

"Turkey has continued its excellent efforts to provide unprecedented humanitarian aid and support to more than 3.6 million registered refugees from Syria and some 370,000 registered refugees from other countries, thus hosting the largest refugee community in the world."

"However, in March 2020, Turkey actively encouraged migrants and refugees to take the land route to Europe via Greece. This led to the creation of an unofficial camp at one of the Greek-Turkish border crossings in Pazarkule, home to some 60,000 migrants and refugees in squalid conditions. Later in March, Turkish authorities organised transfers for migrants and refugees away from the border area and closed the border with Greece and Bulgaria in addition to commercial traffic due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic," it noted.

"However, the Turkish Interior Minister said this move did not mean a change in Turkey's policy of allowing illegal migrants to leave its borders and the government had no intention of preventing anyone wishing to leave Turkey. While the EU recognised the increased migration burden and risks turkey faced on its territory and its significant efforts to accommodate refugees, it strongly rejected Turkey's use of migration pressure for political purposes. Overall, the number of illegal borders between Turkey and Greece remained significantly lower than before the adoption of the EU-Turkey declaration," Komison recalls.

Finally, it stresses that "Turkey continues not to apply the EU-Turkey readmission agreement to all Member States or the provisions concerning third-country nationals. Despite the announced acceleration of work on visa liberalisation, no outstanding visa liberalisation benchmarks have been met and amendments to the Anti-Terrorism and Data Protection Act are still pending. Turkey still needs to further align its legislation with the EU acquis on visa policy," it noted.

Source:eyenews/#ΚΥΠΕ