Turkey slams Med7 declaration, accuses group of siding with Greek Cyprus
ANKARA
From left to right Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, French President Emanuel Macron, Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa attend a south EU summit in Nicosia, Cyprus on Jan. 29. Greek Cyprus hosted the leaders of France, Portugal, Malta, Greece, Spain and Italy for the fifth "Med 7" summit. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has slammed a joint declaration adopted at the Fifth Summit of the Southern European Union Countries (Med7) held in Greek Cyprus on Jan. 29 with the participation of France, Italy, Spain, Malta, Portugal, Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration.
The move “provide yet another example of the unfair and unconstructive attitude maintained by certain EU members, in the name of the so-called ‘Union solidarity’,” said a Foreign Ministry statement on Jan. 31.
“The commendation in the declaration of the so-called efforts by the Greek Cypriots regarding the settlement process in Cyprus and the expression of support for their unilateral hydrocarbon activities in the Eastern Mediterranean clearly display the continuation of the Greek Cypriot administration’s abuse of its EU membership,” it added.
“It should not be forgotten that the main reason for the failure of the Cyprus Conference in 2017 was the Greek Cypriot side’s intransigent mentality, considering themselves as the sole owner of the island and the Turkish Cypriots as a minority,” the ministry said, adding that there is no mention of the legitimate rights of the Turkish Cypriots on the natural resources of the island in the joint declaration “proves the persistence of this distorted mentality.”
Turkey remains committed to taking the necessary steps to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriots, said the statement.
Cooperation with Turkey must continue, southern European leaders agree
