European Union foreign ministers agreed to freeze most high-level contacts with Turkey and cut the flow of funds to the country, while holding back for now on sanctions that could target Turkish companies involved in offshore drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.
The decision, signed off at a meeting of EU foreign policy chiefs in Brussels, calls for suspending negotiations on an aviation agreement with Ankara, halting scheduled ministerial meetings, reducing financial aid and inviting the European Investment Bank to review sovereign-backed lending to Turkey.
