Turkey on Tuesday rejected as “worthless” European Union sanctions against Ankara as it readied to send a new vessel to the eastern Mediterranean to lift its efforts to drill for hydrocarbons off the island of Cyprus.
EU foreign ministers on Monday approved sanctions against Turkey over its drilling for gas in waters where E.U. member Cyprus has exclusive economic rights. They said they were suspending talks on an air transport agreement, as well as high-level Turkey-E.U. dialogues, and would call on the European Investment Bank to review its lending to the country.
Just hours before the E.U. flagged its sanctions against Turkey, Ankara alleged anti-Turkish “prejudice and bias” in the decision while adding a fine will “in no way” affect the country’s activities in the eastern Mediterranean.
Speaking later at a news conference in North Macedonia, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said E.U. sanctions aimed to “appease” Cyprus and were of “no importance.”
“The E.U. needs us concerning the migration issue or other issues,” he said. “They will come to us and hold contacts; there is no escaping that.”
“They know that the decisions they took cannot be applied,” he said. “They were forced to take the worthless decisions under pressure from the Greek Cypriots and Greece.”
Cavusoglu added: “If you take such decisions against Turkey, we will increase our activities. We have three ships in the eastern Mediterranean, will with send a fourth.”
The discovery of huge gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean has sparked an ongoing dispute between E.U. member Cyprus and Turkey, with Ankara last month sending a second ship called Yavuz to search for natural resources in the region.
In June, E.U. leaders warned Turkey to end drilling in waters around the island or face action from the bloc.
Turkey has had thousands of troops stationed in the northern third of the island since invading in 1974 in response to a Greek military junta-sponsored coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.
The northern part of the island was declared the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is only recognised by Ankara. UN-sponsored efforts to reunify the island have failed.
Turkey currently has two ships drilling for oil and gas in the disputed zone. Turkish officials have previously said the areas where the ships are either part of Turkey’s continental shelf or part of the territory of the island’s northern third.
AP contributed to this story