Turkey's illegal drilling activities in the Mediterranean

Brussels [ENA] On the 27th February, the Council has placed two persons under restrictive measures in relation to Turkey's unauthorised drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. These persons are responsible for or involved in planning, directing and implementing offshore hydrocarbon exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean which have not been authorised by the Republic of Cyprus.

The restrictive measures consist of a travel ban to the EU and an asset freeze. Moreover, EU persons and entities are not allowed to make funds available to the two listed persons. A framework for restrictive measures in response to Turkey's illegal drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean was set up in November 2019 after the Council had repeatedly expressed its concerns and strongly condemned the drilling activities in various sets of conclusions, including European Council conclusions of 22 March 2018 and 20 June 2019.

In its conclusions of 15 July 2019, the Council deplored the fact that, despite the European Union's repeated calls to cease its illegal activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey has continued its drilling operations within Cypriot territorial waters. The Council reiterated the serious immediate negative impact that such illegal actions have across the range of EU-Turkey relations. The Council called again on Turkey to refrain from such actions, act in a spirit of good neighbourliness and respect the sovereignty and sovereign rights of Cyprus in accordance with international law.

The Council already decided then, in the light of Turkey’s continued and new illegal drilling activities, to suspend negotiations on the Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement and agreed not to hold the Association Council and further meetings of the EU-Turkey high-level dialogues for the time being. It also endorsed the Commission’s proposal to reduce the pre-accession assistance to Turkey for 2020 and invited the European Investment Bank to review its lending activities in Turkey, notably with regard to sovereign-backed lending. The Council also decided that the High Representative and the Commission should continue work on options for targeted measures.

On 14 October 2019 the Council recalled and reaffirmed previous Council and European Council conclusions, including the European Council Conclusions of 22 March 2018 and 20 June 2019, strongly condemning Turkey's continued illegal actions in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Council expressed serious concerns over Turkey's illegal drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and deplored that Turkey had not yet responded to the European Union's repeated calls to cease such activities.