Turkey expects fair treatment from EU: Official

ANKARA

A senior Turkish official has called on the European Union to treat Turkey fairly, underlining that the candidate country’s reform process will be accelerated to the extent consideration for full membership is strengthened.

Turkey and the EU held the “Political Dialogue Meeting” at the level of political directors of both sides following a three-year hiatus.

The meeting took place in Ankara with the participation of deputy Foreign Ministers Faruk Kaymakçı and Sedat Önal from the Turkish side and Deputy Secretary-General Enrique Mora and Acting Director-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission Maciej Popowski.

“We are happy to conduct this meeting after three years. Turkey is a candidate for membership to the EU. Beyond that, it is a key country regarding the defense, economy, energy security and migration management of Europe,” Kaymakçı said at the opening of the meeting.

Turkey is expecting fair treatment from the EU, Kaymakçı stated, noting the acceleration of Turkey’s reform process to the extent its membership prospect strengthens.

“Dialogue, we discussed all aspects of Turkey-EU relations with accession perspective and regional and international issues affecting our [EU] continent. We agreed that the dialogue between candidate Turkey and the EU should be enhanced in every field,” Kaymakçı tweeted.

Turkey and the EU diplomats discussed all the aspects of the bilateral ties, Turkey’s accession process as well as regional developments in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Syria and Libya.

Turkey remains a candidate country to the EU since 1999 but negotiations for its accession have been suspended in recent years.