President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a video-conference with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
The video-conference in which Turkey-EU relations and regional developments were discussed lasted for approximately 40 minutes.
During the conversation, President Erdoğan indicated that at the heart of the Eastern Mediterranean issue lied Greece’s and Greek Cypriots’ desire to disregard the rights of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots through their maximalist claims.
Addressing that Turkey who has been an advocate of dialogue for the settlement of disputes since the very beginning was ready for exploratory talks, President Erdoğan expressed his wish for this diplomatic opportunity not to go to waste because of Greece, as been witnessed before.
President Erdoğan pointed out that the renewal of the March 18 Consensus between Turkey and EU, the updating of the customs union and steps towards ensuring the visa-liberalisation would provide a solid foundation for relations to further progress.
Reiterating his call for fair burden and responsibility sharing regarding refugees, President Erdoğan noted that the EU should further investigate the violations committed by Greece and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) through their push-back implementations