BRUSSELS: European Union officials on Monday agreed political and financial sanctions against Turkey after Ankara went ahead with drilling operations off Cyprus despite repeated warnings, European diplomats said.
“The conclusions on Turkey have been adopted and they will be made public in the coming hours,” the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters after a meeting with members states’ foreign ministers.
The most serious measure is understood to be a cut of 145.8 million euros ($164 million) in the European funds allocated to Turkey for 2020.
The European Investment Bank has been asked to revisit the conditions set out for providing financial support to Ankara, according to several European sources.
The EU is also expected to downgrade its dialogue with Turkey, without cutting it off completely.
And one senior European diplomat added: “It has not be ruled out that targeted sanctions be adopted at some time or other.”
The EU last month warned Turkey it could face sanctions if it did not cease what the bloc called “illegal” drilling in Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone.
Last week, diplomats began discussing what measures to impose.
It was the discovery of huge gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean that sparked the dispute between EU member Cyprus and Turkey.
Ankara sent two ships to carry out drilling off the Cypriot coast despite the warnings from the EU.
Cyprus has been divided between the Republic of Cyprus and a northern third under Turkish military control since 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a coup by a Greek military junta.
The tensions over gas drilling are also likely related to the collapse of peace talks in 2017, experts say.
While negotiations to reunify the island have not restarted, Cyprus has moved to start gas and oil exploration by issuing licenses.
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EU agrees sanctions against Turkey for drilling off Cyprus
EU agrees sanctions against Turkey for drilling off Cyprus
Deadly attacks by Sudanese paramilitary forces on a Darfur town displace over 3,000, group says
- Misteriha is a stronghold of Arab tribal leader Musa Hilal, who also hails from the Rizeigat Arab tribe as do the majority of the members of the RSF
- In October, the RSF overran el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, after 18 months of siege
CAIRO: Deadly attacks by Sudanese paramilitary forces on a town in Sudan’s western Darfur region have displaced more than 3,000 people in the past few days, a doctors group said Thursday as the war in the African country nears its three-year mark with no end in sight.
The statement from the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s brutal war, followed a statement earlier this week on Facebook in which the group said that the latest attack on Misteriha in North Darfur province left at least 28 people dead and 39 wounded.
The group said at the time the casualty tolls were an initial finding and that the real number of killed and wounded is likely higher.
The town is a stronghold of Arab tribal leader Musa Hilal who also hails from the Rizeigat Arab tribe as the majority of the members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. Motives for the attack were not known and the RSF could not be contacted for comment.
The conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese military erupted into war in April 2023 that has so far killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization. Aid groups say the true toll could be many times higher, as the fighting in vast and remote areas impedes access.
The doctors group said the displaced families fled from Misteriha in the night, without any belongings and now lack shelter and food. It said most of the displaced are women, including pregnant women, facing “extremely severe” health conditions. It appealed for “immediate and urgent assistance.”
The paramilitary RSF on Monday intensified their attack on the town and subsequently seized it, a takeover that is likely to strengthen the RSF fighters’ hold over Darfur.
In October, the RSF overran el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, after 18 months of siege. The paramilitary killed more than 6,000 people between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27 in the city — atrocities that UN-backed experts say bore ” the hallmarks of genocide.”
Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Thursday that his office has documented a sharp spike — more than two and a half times — in killings of civilians in 2025 in Sudan, compared with the previous year with thousands still missing or unidentified.
“This war is ugly. It’s bloody. And it’s senseless,” Türk said during a human rights council session in Geneva. “If much of the international community continues to act as a passive bystander, then something is fundamentally wrong with our collective moral compass.”
Repeated efforts by various countries and organizations to broker peace have failed to end the war.
The statement from the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s brutal war, followed a statement earlier this week on Facebook in which the group said that the latest attack on Misteriha in North Darfur province left at least 28 people dead and 39 wounded.
The group said at the time the casualty tolls were an initial finding and that the real number of killed and wounded is likely higher.
The town is a stronghold of Arab tribal leader Musa Hilal who also hails from the Rizeigat Arab tribe as the majority of the members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. Motives for the attack were not known and the RSF could not be contacted for comment.
The conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese military erupted into war in April 2023 that has so far killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization. Aid groups say the true toll could be many times higher, as the fighting in vast and remote areas impedes access.
The doctors group said the displaced families fled from Misteriha in the night, without any belongings and now lack shelter and food. It said most of the displaced are women, including pregnant women, facing “extremely severe” health conditions. It appealed for “immediate and urgent assistance.”
The paramilitary RSF on Monday intensified their attack on the town and subsequently seized it, a takeover that is likely to strengthen the RSF fighters’ hold over Darfur.
In October, the RSF overran el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, after 18 months of siege. The paramilitary killed more than 6,000 people between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27 in the city — atrocities that UN-backed experts say bore ” the hallmarks of genocide.”
Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Thursday that his office has documented a sharp spike — more than two and a half times — in killings of civilians in 2025 in Sudan, compared with the previous year with thousands still missing or unidentified.
“This war is ugly. It’s bloody. And it’s senseless,” Türk said during a human rights council session in Geneva. “If much of the international community continues to act as a passive bystander, then something is fundamentally wrong with our collective moral compass.”
Repeated efforts by various countries and organizations to broker peace have failed to end the war.
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