Ankara welcomes EU’s invitation to Fidan for Gymnich meet

ANKARA

Türkiye has welcomed the European Union’s invitation to Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to attend an informal meeting next week where regional issues will be discussed, in the first attempt by Brussels to establish political dialogue with Ankara in five years.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Öncü Keçeli has told the Anadolu Agency that Foreign Minister Fidan will go to Brussels on Aug. 29 to attend the Gymnich meeting upon the invitation of the EU.

Stressing that Ankara regards the invitation as positive and an attempt to seek dialogue with Ankara, Keçeli said “We hope that this step, in the coming period, will create a suitable ground for reversing the resolutions taken by the EU Foreign Affairs Committee on July 15, 2019, which led to a stalemate in our ties.”

Brussels had imposed sanctions on Türkiye due to a confrontation between Ankara and Athens in the eastern Mediterranean and limited political dialogue with the Turkish government. There were recent attempts by the EU Commission to overcome the obstacles stemming from the 2019 resolutions, but they fell short due to the opposition of the Greek Cyprus administration.

“This invitation is a signal that the need for improving ties between Türkiye and the EU in the face of regional and global challenges is also understood by the EU,” Keçeli stated.

This engagement should not be limited to the Gymnich meetings, the spokesperson underlined, stressing that it is essential that Türkiye and the EU develop their cooperation and dialogue in all fields in a sustainable, predictable and systemic way.

Keçeli also recalled that concrete steps for the revitalization of Türkiye’s accession process to the EU, modernization of the customs union, visa liberalization and resumption of structural political mechanisms should also be taken in this context.

At the Gymnich meetings, the foreign ministers from 27 EU countries as well as the high representative for security and foreign policy issues gather to discuss current regional and international matters in an informal way.

Türkiye, as an EU candidate country, was usually invited to the Gymnich meetings up to 2019.

In the next Gymnich meetings, the ministers are expected to review the latest developments regarding the Russian occupation of Ukraine and the ongoing Israeli-Hamas war. In Brussels, Fidan is also envisaged to hold some bilateral meetings with the participant EU colleagues.