Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday December 18 that he wanted to open a "
new page
" with the European Union, we learned from an official source.
Read also: Turkey: agreement at the top to sanction Ankara
During a videoconference with Merkel, “
President Erdogan declared that Turkey wants to open a new page in its relations with the EU, and thanked the Chancellor for her constructive contributions and efforts in favor of Turkey-EU relations.
», Indicates a statement from the Turkish presidency.
"
There is a new window of opportunity
" to strengthen Turkey-EU relations, but some countries are trying to "
create a crisis
" to disrupt this "
positive agenda
", she says, without citing the names of the countries in question.
European leaders, gathered at a summit last week in Brussels, have decided to impose targeted sanctions against Ankara for its "
unilateral actions and provocations
" in the eastern Mediterranean, rich in gas resources and where Turkey is contesting the course of maritime borders by carrying out exploration work.
Relations have been particularly difficult for months with Greece and Cyprus, at the forefront of the Turkish campaign, but also with France, which supports them.
Claiming that Turkey's role is “
constructive,
” Erdogan accused Greece of refusing to negotiate.
He also called for a review of the agreement concluded in 2016 between the EU and Turkey on migrants, which would be “the
key to a positive agenda with Europe
”.
This agreement was concluded following the migration crisis that Europe experienced in 2015, with the arrival of more than a million people.
Turkey then accepted the return to its territory of all new migrants arriving in the Greek islands, including asylum seekers such as Syrians fleeing the war.
This is in return for the payment of aid of six billion euros intended to improve the living conditions of the 3.6 million refugees it hosts.
Since then, Ankara has been regularly accused of blackmailing migrants against Europe.
The European Union finally allocated Ankara all of the six billion euros promised on Thursday.