⁍ Turkey’s foreign minister angrily dismissed European Union calls to withdraw troops from northeast Syria on Tuesday.
⁍ Mevlut Cavusoglu made his irritation clear as the news conference headed in an unexpected direction.
⁍ He noted the EU does not urge Turkey to withdraw from northwest Syria because, he said, ‘3 million more refugees will come to Turkey and then to European countries
– The foreign minister of Turkey lashed out at his Swedish counterpart on Tuesday, accusing her of acting “condescending” and “using the word ‘urge'” when she criticized his country’s decision to resume energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean. Mevlut Cavusoglu told Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde at a press conference in Ankara that “you are trying to lecture on human rights and international laws by acting condescending and using the word ‘urge,'” Reuters reports. “In Turkey everybody can express their views but we don’t have these double standards,” Cavusoglu said. Linde responded that she would not engage in a dispute with Turkey. “I would hope that everybody in Turkey will have the possibility to express their views as frankly as you are doing,” she said. Cavusoglu then turned to her again and said: “In Turkey everybody can express their views but we don’t have these double standards.’ The airing of grievances came as tensions flared again between Turkey and the EU after a Turkish seismic survey ship on Monday returned to disputed waters from which it had withdrawn last month to allow for diplomacy.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/turkey-sweden/turkish-minister-criticises-eu-double-standards-in-testy-meet-with-swedish-minister-idUSL8N2H44HD