Turkey is in favor of peace and cooperation rather than tension in the eastern Mediterranean, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reported as saying Monday, however adding that his country will not yield to “imperialist” expansionism in the region.
“We are not after exploiting the rights of anyone but try to take a firm stance against pirates that try to take our rights away,” Erdogan was quoted as telling the Eastern Mediterranean Workshop.
According to the same reports, Erdogan said that Turkey will not accept plans or maps that aim to confine the country to its coastline.
EU foreign ministers meet on Monday set to evaluate grounds for sanctions against Turkey over its actions in the eastern Mediterranean before the bloc’s leaders convene December 10-11 to decide whether to make good on their threat to impose sanctions. ]kathimerini]
My dear Erdogan, will you please elucidate: first you accuse ‘someone’ of imperial expansionism and then say that you (Turkey) will not accept any attempt to confine Turkey to its coastline. Presumably, that includes internationally agreed national territorial waters. So, if that is the case and, presumably, Turkey does not have ‘imperialist’ ambitions to expand their territory, what is the nature of your complaint?
Interpretation: Turkey are in favour of peace as long as we gets what we want! The only “pirate” in these matters are Mr Erdogan himself. Turkey has started all this, not Cyprus or Greece. The Lausanne treaty is still valid, follow it!!!