Ankara’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said that Thursday’s condemnation by European Union leaders of “Turkey’s continued illegal actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea” was “unacceptable.”

“The statement that was issued contained unacceptable comments against our country that serve the interests of Greece and the Greek Cypriots,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy was quoted by Agence France-Presse as telling reporters. Relations between Ankara and Athens are tense over a number of issues including the Greek failure to extradite eight Turkish troops who escaped Turkey by helicopter on the night of the July 2016 attempted overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey calls a statement of European Union support for Greek Cypriots in a dispute over offshore resources "unacceptable". Turkey has been using its Navy to prevent exploration by Cypriot vessels.