(Bloomberg) -- The European Union threatened to cancel a summit with Turkey next month because of Turkish tensions with Cyprus over energy exploration, the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Ankara and EU capitals.
EU President Donald Tusk lashed out at Turkey after its navy prevented drilling by Italy-based Eni SpA in waters that are part of Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone, forcing the company to relocate its vessel. Earlier this month, a Turkish navy ship rammed a Greek coast-guard vessel off Aegean islets over which Ankara claims sovereignty.
“These actions contradict Turkey’s commitment to good neighborly relations,” Tusk told reporters in Brussels on Friday after an EU summit. Scheduled to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on March 26 in Varna, Bulgaria, Tusk said EU national government heads would decide at a gathering several days beforehand whether “the conditions are there to hold a leaders’ meeting with Turkey.”
Relations between the EU and Turkey have been deteriorating since a mid-2016 failed coup attempt against Erdogan that prompted him to unleash a widespread crackdown on political opponents. The acrimony has all but 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.
At the same time, Turkey’s central roles in preventing a renewed flood of Middle Eastern refugees into the EU via Greece and in fighting terrorism have left European leaders seeking ways to bring about a detente. The scheduled Varna meeting, which is also due to include European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, represents an attempt to improve ties.
“The time has come to send a very clear message to Turkey,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told reporters in Brussels. “EU-Turkey relations cannot progress with constant violations of sovereign rights of EU member states.”