Turkey urges a fair sharing of the resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, while establishing welfare, peace and stability in the region, said the nation’s foreign minister on Monday.
“Let’s solve this together. If there is a wealth, let’s share it. Let’s solve problems through diplomacy and political means,” Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told a workshop on the Eastern Mediterranean in Turkey’s coastal Antalya province.
“WE HAVE POWER BOTH IN THE FIELD AND AT THE TABLE”
Despite Turkey’s calls for equitable sharing, unilateral work continues, said Çavuşoğlu. Çavuşoğlu stressed that Greece’s continental shelf claims based on tiny islands off Turkey’s coast are against international law, calling this a “maximalist” approach.
To address recent tension in the region, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has proposed to the EU holding a joint conference, and the bloc counter-proposed also including states without Eastern Mediterranean coastlines.
“We are now working on it with the EU. We can go down different roads, we have power both in the field and at the table,” he added. Just because Turkey has the power, it does not assume or try to dictate everything it wants, Çavuşoğlu added.
“We are in favor of fair sharing. We are powerful normally and legally and we will continue to use this power for the benefit of everyone in the coming days,” he stressed.
On how developments in the Eastern Mediterranean affect the runup to this week’s EU summit, Çavuşoğlu stressed that the EU is not an authority on maritime jurisdictions, as the International Court of Justice is.