Negative trend in EU-Turkey relations must stop, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday.
Speaking at a European Parliament session called by the conservative European People’s Party, Borrell said: “Turkey is an important partner, candidate country, and a NATO ally. The current negative trend in our relations needs to be stopped and reversed.”
“TURKEY HAS BEEN SHOWING A WARDEN ASSERTIVENESS”
Borrell said he recently visited Turkey after visiting Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, adding that “stability and security in the Mediterranean requires collective engagement.”
Conflicts in Syria and Libya directly affecting the security and interests of EU in terms of terrorism, migration, and political stability in the region, he added.
Borrell said Turkey and EU have had some important disagreements over Syria, as EU members opposed Turkey’s anti-terror operation Peace Spring in October 2019.
“Yet we must also knowledge where our interest coincide [with Turkey]. Turkey has been showing solidarity and generosity towards more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees, and has supplied cross border and humanitarian assistance,” he stressed. “In the eastern Mediterranean Turkey has been showing a warden assertiveness,” Borrell said, adding