Turkey has formally rejected a new European Union security assessment, accusing Brussels of taking a one-sided position ...

Turkey has formally rejected a new European Union security assessment, accusing Brussels of taking a one-sided position on Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean that ignores Ankara's standing as an official EU candidate country. The dispute centers on a document the EU published called "Common Understanding: The Threats and Challenges We Face," which outlines the bloc's security priorities and geopolitical challenges. The paper backs respect for the territorial sovereignty of Greece and Cyprus, supports internationally recognized legal frameworks on the Cyprus dispute, and warns that unilateral actions in contested waters undermine regional stability. Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli fired back, saying the document was "devoid of a strategic and fair approach" and accused the EU of repeating what he called "baseless allegations" about the Eastern Mediterranean. He argued Brussels had aligned itself entirely with Greece and the Republic of Cyprus, damaging the bloc's credibility as a neutral actor. Ankara also took aim at the document's timing, with Keceli claiming it was designed to overshadow Turkey's growing role in NATO following the alliance's recent summit held in the Turkish capital. He called Turkey's contribution to Euro-Atlantic security "indispensable." The broader context matters here. Turkey was recognized as an EU candidate country in 1999 and opened accession negotiations in 2005, but that process has been effectively frozen since 2018 over disputes involving democratic standards, Cyprus, and Ankara's conduct in the Eastern Mediterranean. The new EU assessment makes no mention of Turkey in its enlargement section, instead discussing Ankara only in the context of regional tensions, saying deeper cooperation depends on Turkey's behavior and progress toward a Cyprus settlement. Keceli pointed to the 2004 Annan Plan referendum, which Turkish Cypriots approved and Greek Cypriot voters rejected, and to the collapsed 2017 Crans-Montana talks, arguing the Greek Cypriot side was to blame for both failures. The EU and Greece maintain an opposing reading of those events. The standoff reflects a contradiction that has defined EU-Turkey r...