The Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Mustafa Şentop on Monday criticized the European Union’s inconsistent policies.

He accused the EU of being unrealistic, inconsistent and far from biased when approaching issues such as refugees, Islamophobia and its policies on the Eastern Mediterranean.

“On the issue of the Eastern Mediterranean it is better to leave the issue to the people in the region. Greece is not in the Eastern Mediterranean and France has nothing to do here iether. But for some reason when the Eastern Mediterranean is on the agenda everyone wants to come to the area,” said Şentop in a statement.

Noting that if there was a similar situation in the Western Mediterranean and if many countries had tried to search for something on the coast of France they would feel uncomfortable as well, Şentop said, “Everyone has to agree to their rights arising from international law. They can’t always want everything. Turkey, by staying within the boundaries of law, has the power to protect and defend its rights”.

Explaining that not everyone understood what rights Turkey has, Şentop said “Turkey is well aware of its rights stemming from international law and therefore we are confident during negotiations.”

“In this context it is a very grim picture that the EU connects its relations with Turkey only to the whims of Greece and the Greek Cypriots. I see this as a shame of the European Union,” said Şentop.