German Chancellor Merkel on EU conclusions: Greece and Cyprus demanded their rights as EU members

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her satisfaction with the outcome of yesterday’s discussion at the Summit on Greek-Turkish issues.

The German Chancellor opposed the imposition of sanctions, saying “our relationship with Turkey is of course complex and the European Union is showing great interest in developing a truly constructive relationship with it, despite all the difficulties.” She added: “We are partners in NATO and we depend on each other in terms of immigration tactics and the support we provide to Turkey in dealing with the many refugees flows it undertakes to manage.”

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Final EU conclusions on Turkish relations satisfy Greece and Cyprus

The German Chancellor also stated that “we reached an agreement on an approach to our strategic relationship with Turkey”, explaining that “it was a long and difficult discussion because of course Greece and Cyprus demanded their rights as our member states”. “But we also had a very frank discussion about the need to look at all of our relations with Turkey. “And so we now want to ask for a constructive agenda with Turkey, provided that efforts to reduce tensions continue, as has been the case with some actions in recent weeks.”

She continued: “We hope that this will give a new impetus to the negotiations with Turkey – on the one hand, the discussion of bilateral issues concerning Greece and Cyprus, but on the other hand also issues concerning the European Union and Turkey, for example, cooperation for refugees or cooperation in a customs union. Of course, we will continue with this process and we will record the results at the Council meeting in December at the latest “.