With 601 votes in favour, 57 against and 36 abstentions, the Plenary adopted a Resolution of the European Parliament on the preparation of the extraordinary European Council, which will focus on the dangerous escalation and the role of Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.
With this resolution, the EP condemns Turkey’s illegal activities on the continental shelves/EEZs of Cyprus and Greece.
Moreover, the EP welcomes Turkey’s decision on September 12th to withdraw the Oruç Reis seismographic vessel and calls on Turkey to show restraint and contribute to the initiative.
Furthermore, it calls on Turkey to respect the territorial integrity and all its neighbours, immediately ending all further illegal exploration and drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, and insists that further sanctions can be avoided only through dialogue, genuine cooperation and tangible progress.
The Council should be ready to draw up a list of further restrictive measures in the absence of significant progress on cooperation with Turkey, the EP notes.
In addition, the EP urges all stakeholders to actively support the negotiations for a fair, comprehensive and sustainable settlement of the Cyprus problem, urges a full environmental risk assessment for all drilling activities, reiterates its call on the Turkish government to sign and ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and recalls that, although Turkey is not a party, customary law provides for EEZs even for uninhabited islands.
The resolution welcomes the call made by the governments of Cyprus and Greece for good faith negotiations on the subject and urges the parties to submit their disputes to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague or to resort to international arbitration in the event that a settlement is not possible through mediation.
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