EU leaders eye potential Turkey trade-off on gas

EU leaders eye potential Turkey trade-off on gas

EU leaders on Thursday offered the possibility of deepening trade ties with Turkey, telling Ankara to stick to democratic norms and to avoid worsening the energy dispute in the Mediterranean Sea.

“We call on Turkey to refrain from further provocations or unilateral actions in violation of international law,” EU leaders said in a leaked document obtained by DW.

With the aim of rewarding Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan for withdrawing from a confrontation over gas exploration, the bloc will begin preparations for a deeper customs union with Ankara, according to the draft statement.

He would see that the trade agreement of the 1990 era would expand to services, agricultural products, and public procurement.

The expansion of the customs union would lead Turkey, an EU candidate for membership, squarely in the domestic market of the world’s largest trading bloc.

It would allow almost all goods and services to flow unhindered and increase in size by 80 million Turkish consumers.

A solution for Turkey’s gas line?

The envisaged resolutions are intended to provide a strong incentive for Turkey to constructively seek a solution to an energy dispute with Greece and Cyprus.

In the dispute, the EU threatened Turkey with severe sanctions last December. Later, the country ended the controversial gas exploration and indicated its willingness to dialogue.

Cyprus, backed by Greece and possibly France, has resisted any attempt to reveal too much, given Turkey’s contested gas exploration work in waters off the island and Erdogan’s proposal for a two-state solution there.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded in the wake of a coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

The Turkish Cypriots declared their independence in the northern third almost a decade later, but only Turkey has recognized them. Cyprus joined the EU in 2004.

The UN will hold informal talks on April 27-29 in Geneva between rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot parties, as well as the island’s “guarantors” Greece, Turkey, and Britain’s former colonial ruler, to assess the possibilities of resuming the peace talks.

Resumption of immigration treatment?

EU diplomats also want the European Commission to explore ways to continue helping finance the estimated 4 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, as well as in Jordan and Lebanon.

It would build on a 2016 agreement that reduced migrant arrivals to the Greek islands, and the EU would pay Turkey 6 billion euros to help refugees.