A few days before the start of the European Union Summit (Friday-Saturday), Athens is stepping up pressure on the Erdogan government.
The Greek government has asked the EU Foreign Affairs Council for sanctions, which will… substantially hurt Ankara, in case it carries out its threats for drilling inside the Greek continental shelf.
Powerful countries, such as France, Austria, Luxembourg, Estonia, Slovakia and Sweden sided with Greece.
Besides, yesterday, the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) condemned Turkey’s decision on Hagia Sophia and called on the Turkish government to reconsider its decision.
According to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council has authorized him to consider ways to de-escalate the situation with Turkey.
At the Foreign Affairs Council, the Greek side sought to strongly condemn the issue of Hagia Sophia.
A number of countries were on the side of Greece in the Foreign Affairs Council. In particular, “among them are France, Luxembourg, Estonia, Slovakia, Sweden, while Austria has even called for the freezing of accession negotiations.”
In relation to the measures proposed by Greece, “these are sectoral measures. The identification of the sectors will be discussed and in the meantime Greece will continue its contacts with the European External Action Service (EEAS) regarding this matter too,” the same sources said and concluded that “the Greek side sought and achieved a strong condemnation in relation to the issue of Hagia Sophia” against a milder rhetoric that had originally been chosen.
The Greek Prime Minister had a telephone conversation with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, during which, the issues that will concern the upcoming Summit and the provocative action of the neighbor country to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque were discussed.
It is not ruled out that the Greek Prime Minister will have telephone conversations with both the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, and the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, while he has already scheduled telephone conversations with the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel.