The EU Foreign Affairs Council expressed strong condemnation of the violations of Greek airspace and territorial waters of Greece, as well as Turkey’s illegal oil drilling activity in the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus during a teleconference on Friday.

“We have sent a strong message to Turkey today in support of Cyprus and Greece,” said EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. “We continue our diplomatic efforts for a creative partnership,” he added.

“We condemn the fact that Turkey has not yet responded to repeated calls from the EU to stop these activities and we reiterate our call on Turkey to show restraint, to avoid such moves and to respect the sovereignty and sovereign rights of Cyprus, as defined by international law,” the joint statement said.

According to the statement of the foreign ministers, “the EU is in full solidarity with Cyprus and reiterates that tangible steps are needed to create a climate conducive to dialogue.” Ministers welcome Cyprus’ invitation to Turkey to ‘negotiate in good faith’ the limits of their maritime economic zones, but stress that “recent Turkish escalation efforts are moving in the opposite direction.”