European Union holds its meeting today, possibility of imposing sanctions on Turkey

European officials will not make any decisions at their meeting today, leaving that to a summit on Thursday by European Union leaders who asked Turkey in October to stop drilling in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean or face the consequences.

While Turkey announced a few days ago, according to Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, that it was ready for dialogue with Greece without preconditions, the European Union confirmed that Turkish exploration and survey ships continued to work in the disputed waters with Greece and Cyprus, which is unacceptable.

In his turn, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who chairs the European Union summits, called on Turkey last week to stop playing the "cat-and- mouse" game by making concessions and then retracting them.

While NATO considered the withdrawal of the Turkish exploration vessel "Uruç Reis" from the waters of Cyprus days before the European summit, a positive sign that helps reduce tension, Jens Stoltenberg stressed that there is concern about the situation in the eastern Mediterranean, stressing the continuation of the efforts in order to avoid a clash in the region.

These developments came at a time when Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias announced, on Sunday, that Turkey is carrying out military operations on foreign lands and occupying lands in neighboring countries and threatening to ignite a war, stressing that it threatens the stability of Europe, the Arabs and the Caucasus.

The Greek foreign minister added that Turkey disputes the sovereignty and sovereign rights of European countries, indicating that it "transfers extremists" and interferes in the internal affairs of other countries by supporting extremist movements.

In addition, the minister accused Ankara of exploiting the migrant crisis and violating human rights locally, as it is trying to create a sphere of influence in the region, considering that Turkey has become a clear threat to the stability of Europe, the Middle East, the Arab world and the Caucasus region in general.

He pointed out that if there is no condemnation of Turkey's departure from European values, those who advocate modernization and improving relations with Europe within the Turkish community will be weakened in the local arena.

Turkey moved in late November to return an exploration ship to its ports, which may contribute to easing tensions a bit, but European Union officials and diplomats said that the broader issues related to Libya, Syria, Russia and authoritarianism in Turkey have strengthened the European Union's positions.