The EU on Monday said it failed to reach any “concrete solutions or compromises” with Turkey in talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeking to repair their tattered relations.
Erdogan held a working dinner with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Bulgaria, with a litany of issues clouding their discussions, including EU alarm at Erdogan’s crackdown on perceived opponents following a coup attempt in 2016, the arrest of journalists, Turkey’s military operations against Kurds in northern Syria and squabbling over Ankara’s deal to halt the flow of refugees into Europe.
This has all whipped up an increasingly acrimonious war of words and made Turkey’s prospects of joining the EU — an objective that Erdogan insisted earlier on Monday that Turkey still pursues — appear even more remote.
However, despite hopes for a breakthrough at the summit in the Black Sea resort of Varna, Tusk said they made little tangible headway.
“In terms of concrete solutions, we did not reach a concrete compromise today, but I still hope it will be possible in the future,” Tusk told a joint news conference.
Improved relations would depend on progress on issues, including the rule of law and press freedom, as well as Syria, Tusk said.
However, Erdogan struck a more optimistic tone, telling reporters: “We hope that we have left a very difficult period behind in Turkey-EU relations.”
“We don’t want rambling or unfair criticisms on sensitive issues like the fight against terror. We expect strong support,” he added.
The summit was one of “mixed feelings, but not mixed messages,” Juncker said, adding: “It was a good meeting, because as this is the normal principle between big democracies, we were able to talk in all frankness and openness.”
Tensions rose further last week after EU leaders condemned Turkey’s “illegal actions” toward Greece and Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea.
Ankara hit back at the “unacceptable comments” and said the EU had lost its objectivity on Cyprus, which is divided between the Greek-majority internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.
A statement on Thursday last week by the 28 EU members meeting in Brussels condemned Turkey over Ankara’s arrest of two Greek soldiers and its promise to prevent the Greek Cypriot government from exploring for oil and gas.
“For as long as the EU does not take a fair attitude, it will not have any contribution to the solution of the Cyprus issue,” Erdogan said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was