UPDATE - Terrorism is common fight, European Council president says on terrorist attack in Türkiye

ADDS MORE QUOTES FROM EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT

By Merve Aydogan

BALI, Indonesia (AA) - European Council President Charles Michel stressed Tuesday that the "fight against terrorism is a common fight."

Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, Michel responded to a question by Anadolu Agency on the deadly weekend terrorist attack on Istanbul’s Istiklal Street, saying "it is extremely important to be all together, try to prevent (such attacks), to cooperate at the level of intelligence services."

"The EU has a very strong position. We want to coordinate, cooperate in order to fight against terrorism everywhere," he added.

Michel also said there is no meeting planned with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Turkish police arrested the perpetrator of the attack on Istiklal Avenue, Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian woman who planted the explosives, in a pre-dawn raid, while dozens of other suspects were detained.

The police said Albashir has confessed that she was trained by the YPG/PYD/PKK terror group as an intelligence operative and entered Türkiye illegally from Afrin, Syria.

The attack left six people dead and injured 81 others, two of them critically.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

On the bilateral meeting between the leaders of China and the US on the sidelines of the summit Monday, Michel said it is "important" for both countries to engage with one another "even if there are different opinions on many topics with China."

"It’s important to listen to each other, try to develop mutual understanding," he said while affirming the need for dialogue to "defend our values, to defend our interests."

He further noted that the timing of the US-China meeting is not a coincidence and said "it is not a bad time."

Saying that the US needs to "rebalance its relations with China" while being firm on defending its interests and promoting values, Michel also said "we don’t want to make the same mistakes we maybe made with Russia on fossil fuels."

"We were very dependent on Russia for fossil fuels. And we have today difficulties in the field of energy. This is one of the consequences of the war by Russia but also because of that dependency from Russian fossil fuels," he said.

He said that with China, the EU does not "want to be too dependent for the innovative technology that we need today."

Asked about the possibility of further conflict amid Russia's war on Ukraine, Michel said "Russia decided to use food and energy as weapons, mass destabilization weapons."

Saying that there is an energy crisis in Europe, he said such a crisis in Europe also "has consequences everywhere in the world. The food security crisis has huge consequences, especially in the developing countries."

He further lashed out against Russia for using "nuclear rhetoric" and said it "is extremely dangerous, which is not responsible."

"We are trying in Europe to mobilize the rest of the world in order to defend the UN Charter," he stressed, noting that it is "a battle for the UN Charter. This is a battle for international law."

"There is a risk for further instability and more conflicts, but we don’t want (that)," he said.

On the G-20 Summit, the European Council president said he will use the meetings today and tomorrow "to convince all of the members of the G-20 to put more pressure on Russia."

"I believe in diplomacy. The G-20 is a political space and forum for diplomacy. It is possible to make huge progress on putting pressure through diplomacy on Russia. Russia is a member of the G-20. This is a fact. Russia is also a member of the (UN) Security Council," he added.