The Turkish President hopes to hold a summit with European Union leaders in the first half of 2021 to ease tensions between Ankara and Brussels.
As reported today, on February 9, the pan-European media network EurActiv, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a video call last Monday to German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed hope that the meeting could be organized before Portugal, which Turkey considers a friendly country within the EU, will hand over the temporary chairmanship of the bloc.
“But due to the strained relations between the EU and Turkey, especially as Ankara conducted gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean last year, Brussels said last month that “credible gestures” from Erdogan are needed to correct the situation”, – notes EurActiv.
According to eadaily, following the outrage from Greece and Cyprus over Turkish actions in the eastern Mediterranean, EU leaders in December 2020 agreed to blacklist individual Turkish individuals and develop options for tougher sanctions against Turkey. The rhetoric has since softened sharply, as Erdogan insisted he wanted to “open a new page” in relations with the European Union.