Tusk sides with Nicosia over Turkish actions

European Council President Donald Tusk has reiterated EU solidarity towards Nicosia, in light of new Turkish drilling activities off the coast of Cyprus.

During a visit to Nicosia on Friday, Tusk had a tete-a-tete with Republic of Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, followed by expanded talks between the delegations of the two sides.

On his part, Anastasiades, underlined the need for a more concrete response to Turkey’s operations ahead of the European Council, next week, saying that “we cannot remain idle.”

Speaking after the meeting with Anastasiades, Tusk said that the European Council has strongly condemned Turkish illegal actions and reconfirmed that “the EU stands united behind you” in light of the new drilling activities by Turkey.

He also called on Ankara to end these activities as “they do not only undermine the recent efforts to resume Cyprus settlement talks, but they also undermine good neighbourly relations between the EU as a whole and Turkey.”

Referring to Turkey’s unilateral military operation in northern Syria, Tusk said that it is of grave concern and called for it to stop, adding that Turkey’s actions may lead to another humanitarian disaster.

He added that Turkey`s security concerns should be addressed through political and diplomatic means, while noting that a military intervention will only make matters worse.

“Instead of creating stability, it will create even more instability in the whole region, exacerbate civilian suffering, cause further displacement and threaten progress achieved by the Global Coalition against Da'esh” Tusk said.