EU tasked with drawing up new sanctions on Turkey over regional aggression

Turkey has shown no readiness for compromise with European neighbours over policies on Libya and the Mediterranean

Mahya depicts Turkey's national flag which is installed between the minarets of Camlica mosque, as the outbreak of COVID-19 continues in Istanbul, April 28, 2020. Reuters

Turkish soldiers load medical protection equipment into a Turkish military cargo plane to be donated to the United States at the Etimesgut airport in Ankara, Turkey, April 28, 2020. EPA

A flight crew member stands in front of a donation of medical supplies from Turkey on April 28, 2020, at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The donation to help fight the new coronavirus in the United States included surgical masks, sanitisers and protective suits. AP Photo

Medical personnel participate in a briefing at Istanbul University Cerrahpasa - Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty Hospital's ward dedicated to patients with coronavirus (COVID-19) in Istanbul, Tuesday, April 28, 2020. Turkey has seen a decline this week in the number of daily deaths and rates of infection since it started to grapple with the novel coronavirus pandemic last month. The government has refrained from imposing a total lockdown, fearing its negative impact on the already fragile economy. (AP Photo/Mehmet Guzel)

An aerial view of Eminonu district during a two-day curfew imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 11, 2020. Reuters

epa08392157 Women walk with face masks in Istanbul, Turkey, 29 April 2020. Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan announced that there will be another curfew in 31 big cities, including Istanbul (the country's most populous urban agglomeration), between 01-03 May due to the ongoing pandemic of the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The government has also decreed the cancellation of public events and has temporarily shut down schools and suspended sporting events amid the pandemic. EPA/SEDAT SUNA

Esat Sahin, Imam of the iconic Fatih Mosque, holds a prayer held without public due to the coronavirus restrictions in Istanbul, April 24, 2020, during the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

epa08392155 A man sleeps with face protective equipment on street in Istanbul, Turkey, 29 April 2020. Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan announced that there will be another curfew in 31 big cities, including Istanbul (the country's most populous urban agglomeration), between 01-03 May due to the ongoing pandemic of the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The government has also decreed the cancellation of public events and has temporarily shut down schools and suspended sporting events amid the pandemic. EPA/SEDAT SUNA

TOPSHOT - Health workers help a woman who tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19, at Bagcilar in Istanbul, on April 28, 2019, in Istanbul. / AFP / Bulent Kilic

A Turkish military flight crew member, right, bumps elbows with a FEMA worker as crews unload a donation of medical supplies from Turkey, Tuesday, April 28, 2020, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. The donation to help fight the new coronavirus in the United States included surgical masks, sanitizers and protective suits. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Health workers help a woman who tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19, at Bagcilar in Istanbul, on April 28, 2019, in Istanbul. / AFP / Bulent Kilic

TOPSHOT - Employees of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality youth center sews face masks, in Ankara, Turkey, on April 28, 2020, amid the spread of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus. / AFP / Adem ALTAN

Employees of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality youth center sews face masks, in Ankara, Turkey, on April 28, 2020, amid the spread of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus. / AFP / Adem ALTAN

TOPSHOT - A man sanitises the room as Syrians who returned from Turkey rest at a quarantine facility in the countryside of the town of Jisr al-Shughur, west of the mostly rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib, on April 27, 2020 during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. / AFP / Abdulaziz KETAZ

Customers wearing protective face masks maintain social distancing while queuing before the opening of a bank branch in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, April 27, 2020. Coming off a brief recession just over a year ago, the urgency is mounting for Turkey to loosen the screws on the economy as its currency and reserves come under pressure more than a month after it introduced social-distancing measures. Photographer: Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg

A health worker measures the temperature of a man at a quarantine facility for Syrians who returned from Turkey in the countryside of the town of Jisr al-Shughur, west of the mostly rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib, on April 27, 2020 amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. / AFP / Abdulaziz KETAZ

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality workers spray a street with disinfectant to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, April 27, 2020. Coming off a brief recession just over a year ago, the urgency is mounting for Turkey to loosen the screws on the economy as its currency and reserves come under pressure more than a month after it introduced social-distancing measures. Photographer: Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg

A lone pedestrian walks across an empty Taksim square during curfew in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, April 26, 2020. Coming off a brief recession just over a year ago, the urgency is mounting for Turkey to loosen the screws on the economy as its currency and reserves come under pressure more than a month after it introduced social-distancing measures. Photographer: Kerem Uzel/Bloomberg

The EU took a step closer to imposing sanctions on Turkey on Monday as foreign ministers lined up to criticise the direction of the bloc's large south-eastern neighbour.

Anger over the decision to change the cultural designation of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul to a mosque has compounded European frustration with Turkey's aggressive Mediterranean policies and its intervention in Libya.

EU foreign ministers gathered face to face for the first time since the spring for a summit at which Turkey dominated.

The EU opposes Turkey's drilling for oil and gas off the coast of Cyprus, and Ankara's actions in support of the Tripoli-based government in Libya.

Both moves have been made under a maritime accord between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's administration and the Government of National Accord in Tripoli.

The 27 countries said that for the time being, efforts to engage with Turkey for policy concessions would continue but new options for imposing sanctions would be brought forward.

Heiko Maas, the German Foreign Minister, led the meeting and said the "difficult" session on Turkey raised the challenges posed by Mr Erdogan in some detail.

"All the member states said positive signals were needed from Turkey," he told a later meeting of the European Parliament.

Among the demands were a complete stop of exploratory drilling off Cyrus and promises that Turkish companies would not drill around the Greek island of Crete.

"Given the strategic importance of Turkey we do need dialogue," Mr Maas said.

"We need understanding from Turkey on Cyprus, on Libya and Crete.

"Right now I cannot see a basis for those discussion but we need to reach out. Turkey is in a key position along those fault lines facing Europe."

Mr Maas said the dynamics between Turkey and Russia in conflict zones around the Mediterranean would be closely monitored.

He said he did not want the pair to carve up warring states.

"We will not allow a monopoly to these players," Mr Maas said.

After failing to make progress in a trip to Turkey last week, Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, said the issue would be raised again in August.

"You know that our relationship with Turkey is not especially good at this moment," Mr Borrell said.

France has demanded a common front against Turkey after an incident in which the Turkish navy turned its targeting radar on a French frigate trying to intercept an arms shipment to Tripoli.

Paris believes Ankara has repeatedly breached the UN arms embargo on the oil-rich North African country.

Before the summit, the European Centre for Foreign Relations said the eastern Mediterranean posed a litmus test for how Turkey was expanding its influence in the region.

"The fact that Nato allies are staring each other down on the EU's doorstep should cause all Europeans to pay greater attention to the region," the centre said.

"What happens in the eastern Mediterranean is no longer a peripheral issue."

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister, Jean Asselborn, said that Turkey, with its decision to abandon the Unesco designation of the Hagia Sophia, had effectively turned away from the orientation of its strategic policies towards Europe.

“When I see now what is happening with Hagia Sophia, that is a blow," Mr Asselborn said.

The Hagia Sophia was originally built in Istanbul as a Christian cathedral, and the pope and many countries have expressed their sadness and criticism over the move by Mr Erdogan.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said that the movements in the Mediterranean were “a reason for worrying" and insisted that human rights and democracy issues were taken up during the meeting.

Alexander Schallenberg, the Foreign Minister of Austria, called the Hagia Sophia change "the latest link in a chain of provocations" and said Ankara was "simply not a reliable partner for Europe".