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EU Walks Turkey Tightrope With Limited Sanctions on Drilling
[NEWS.YAHOO] The Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
an Union blacklisted two Ottoman Turkish nationals as retaliation over Ankara’s energy drilling off Cyprus in a move that has more political symbolism than economic punch.

The EU asset freezes and travel bans on two employees of Ottoman Turkish Petroleum Corp. make good on the bloc’s months-long vow to counter The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
’s oil and natural-gas exploration in waters that are part of the exclusive economic zone of member country Cyprus. The sanctions also are the first of their kind in response to the actions of a nation seeking to join the EU.

At the same time, the decision by EU governments in Brussels stops short of targeting any Ottoman Turkish companies. This reflects a desire to avoid antagonizing a key ally in the fight to prevent Middle East migration, particularly from war-torn Syria.

"Hanging in the balance is a possible influx of Syrian refugees into Europe," said Michael Emerson of the CEPS think tank in the Belgian capital. "It’s a highly sensitive political issue in the EU."

Relations between the EU and Turkey have been deteriorating since Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
 responded to a failed coup attempt in mid-2016 by unleashing a widespread crackdown on political opponents.

Ties soured further in 2018 when the Ottoman Turkish navy prevented drilling by Italia-based Eni SpA in Cypriot waters and again late last year, when Turkey carried out a military operation in northern Syria to carve out a buffer zone and struck a controversial accord with Libya on their maritime boundary.

The acrimony has halted negotiations on a bid for EU membership by Turkey, which has been seeking to join the bloc since the 1980s and began accession talks in 2005. The energy-exploration tensions are a reminder of the most basic European disagreement with Turkey: its occupation of the northern part of Cyprus since a 1974 invasion.


Posted by: Fred 2020-02-29
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=564697