Turkey’s full membership must for EU’s future: Erdoğan

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the European Union to focus on common denominator between Brussels and Ankara rather than their differences and said that Turkey’s full membership is a requirement for the bloc’s future.

“It is to the benefit of both sides in a world getting more and more complicated to focus on our common denominators rather than differences and the fundamental values we have been supporting rather than conflicts of interest, and enhance the Turkey-EU relations in all areas,” Erdoğan said in a written statement on May 9 issued for Europe Day.

Turkey’s full-membership process to the EU, which Ankara has been maintaining “patiently and determinedly despite all kinds of obstacles,” should be promoted with a constructive approach, the president said. “It is a must in terms of the EU’s own plans for the future, reputation and reliability as well,” he added.

He recalled that the announcement of the Schuman Declaration, which laid the foundations of European integration, has been celebrated as “Europe Day” in Turkey, too, since the approval of the country’s candidacy to the European Union membership in 1999.

The ideas behind the Schuman Declaration had enabled the countries in Europe to leave aside their differences as well as animosities, and come together for peace, security, development and prosperity following a war ruining the whole world, Erdoğan stated.

“The EU, for its part, has gone way beyond being a peace project through the common policies it has developed from the past to the present,” the president emphasized.

“It is time for the EU, which has moved away from its founding principles and been under the influence of the short-term policies of member countries in recent years, to write a story for itself with the war in Ukraine,” Erdoğan added.

Today this tragedy, which has been going on in the middle of Europe in front of the eyes of the whole world, is a warning for the EU, Erdoğan said, stressing that there is now a need for solidarity, cooperation and above all a visionary and bold perspective just like those of during the times when the foundations of the European integration were laid.

Turkey, not just as a candidate country and NATO ally but also as a partner who has a deep-rooted and strong experience of the EU acquis, has been making concrete contributions to the overcoming of the current challenges.

The repercussions of the war in Ukraine that have reached a global level have reaffirmed how Turkey is of strategic importance for the EU in many areas, security, migration, supply chains and energy in particular, Erdoğan said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Turkey, as a candidate country and a NATO ally, is the key country in solving all the challenges Europe is facing.

“Although certain circles, especially within the European Union, sometimes present our country as a competitor and even a threat, Turkey has made significant contributions to the stability and prosperity of the continent by making many sacrifices for the security of Europe both during and after the Cold War,” he said in a message released for the Europe Day.

Turkey continues to follow a constructive policy in order to develop cooperation and dialogue in all fields within the framework of the EU membership process, which is its strategic goal, the minister said.

Turkey won’t show door to Syrians: Erdoğan

At an event held by the MUSİAD, Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association, Erdoğan stressed that Turkey will not send away Syrians who fled the civil war, in response to an ongoing political discussion about the refugees Turkey has been hosting since 2011.

“Our doors are open to them and we continue to host them. We are not going to leave them to the hands of the murderers,” Erdoğan said, underlining that Turkey will not forcefully send the Syrians away.

The Syrians may voluntarily return to their homeland as Turkey is constructing briquette houses in the safe regions of Syria, the president said, informing that around 60,000 houses have already been built and the objective is to have 100,000 houses.

Erdoğan had announced that Turkey was working on a plan for the return of around 1 million Syrians.