Earlier, the Greek Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, Oliver Vargaia, asking her to consider a complete suspension of the EU-Turkey customs union.
The Greek Foreign Ministry sent letters to the foreign ministries of Germany, Spain and Italy asking them to impose an arms embargo on Turkey. This was reported on Tuesday by the Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) in Athens.
According to the agency’s diplomatic sources, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendyas sent messages to German Foreign Ministers Heiko Maas, Spain’s Aranche Gonzales Laye and Italy’s Luigi Di Mayo, pointing to Ankara’s recent actions and requesting the imposition of an arms embargo on Turkey. In particular, in a letter to his German counterpart, the Greek minister “asks that no export permits be granted” for military equipment such as submarines, frigates and aircraft, and that no upgrades be made to armoured vehicles, Amna sources say. According to them, Dendias points out to his colleagues the recent provocative actions of Turkey, which, he emphasizes, “are aimed at creating precedents” in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean “by military means.
In this context, the Minister recalled the relevant statement made by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the last European Council meeting regarding the obligation of EU member states, arising from their common position, to suspend the export of military equipment to third countries that use this equipment for aggressive actions or regional destabilization, which is exactly what Turkey is doing, sources indicated.
On Tuesday, AMNA announced that the Greek Foreign Minister had sent a letter to European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Oliver Vargaia asking her to consider “the possibility of a complete suspension of the European Union’s customs union with Turkey”.
The agency, citing diplomatic sources, said on Monday that the Greek Foreign Ministry was taking a series of actions to demonstrate an escalation of offences by Turkey, informing in particular UN Secretary General António Guterres, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Frontex, the European Union’s external border security agency.
Greece has insisted at recent EU summits on EU sanctions against Turkey, believing that only the threat of their actual application could force Ankara to change its behaviour in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. EU leaders have decided to wait until the December summit to see what Turkey’s next steps will be.