Greece’s official – and unofficial reaction – to an early morning statement at an EU Summit regarding Turkish provocations on Friday morning revolved around the position of “one step at a time”.
“This is what the Council did; another step, which comprises as strong warning to Turkey to change its behavior,” was the initial reaction by government sources, and later confirmed by a spokeswoman.
Athens had wanted and actively campaigned for immediate and substantive sanctions against an increasingly autocratic and bellicose Erdogan-led Turkey, with the results of the summit coming up way short of this goal.
One significant development for the Greek side was a reference condemning Turkey for its illegal – according to Athens and other states – hydrocarbon exploration activities, especially actions by the Turkish survey vessel Oruc Reis. Summit conclusions directly warn of action in case of the resumption of such exploratory surveys.
The text of the summit is here:
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/47298/11-12-20-euro-summit-statement-en.pdf
