US President Joe Biden held talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotaki the latest developments in the crisis between Ankara and Athens on the exploration of oil and gas in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Biden conveyed his hope for stability in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“The two leaders agreed to work together to address the threat of climate change and pursue a sustainable economic recovery. They also agreed to coordinate on issues of shared interest, including energy security, China, Russia and the Western Balkans,” according to a statement by the White House.
“Today, we have a clear framework and we hope, we really hope, it will be possible to improve the relationship with Turkey,” said European Council president Charles Michel.
“But we remain cautious and remain careful.”
Turkey had welcomed the memorandum adopted by European Union leaders at their recent virtual summit, saying it sincerely wishes to develop its relations with the bloc on the basis of cooperation and mutual benefit. It did, however, criticize the document for its one-sided approach to issues and lack of concrete steps in the country's membership process to the bloc.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that although the evaluation section of the report, “The status of political, economic and trade relations between Turkey and the EU,” stressed the need for a positive agenda, “it was seen that it was written under the influence of the narrow-minded claims of several member states and with a one-way view of Turkey-EU relations.”
“At the same time, we welcome the efforts made by the report to advance Turkey-EU relations on the basis of a positive agenda and the rhetoric that is tried to be reflected in the summit statement,” it said.
