Türkiye-EU ties should return to ‘pre-Sarkozy era’: Fidan

ANKARA

Ties between Türkiye and the European Union should return to pre-Sarkozy era, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said, referring to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy who suspended the advance in Türkiye’s accession process when he came to power in 2007.

“According to our assessment, ties between Türkiye and Europe, especially Türkiye and France, should return to pre-Sarkozy era,” Fidan told in an interview with France 24. Fidan recalled that France and Germany had regarded Türkiye’s EU admission as a strategic step until Sarkozy came to power in 2007.

Sarkozy, who served until 2012, however, used the Turkish membership to the EU as a tool in French domestic politics, Fidan underlined, stressing that identity politics have totally ruined Ankara-Brussels ties since then.

During Sarkozy’s rule, France took unilateral decisions to interrupt the full membership negotiations of Türkiye although the latter, as a candidate country, was showing progress in fulfilling all required criteria.

Describing the first years of Türkiye’s negotiations with the EU as “golden years,” Fidan suggested that if Türkiye would be admitted as a full member in 2007 or 2008, Europe would have a much more integrated security architecture.

“Türkiye should integrate with Europe to build a more efficient power in the region,” he said, underlining this would also make EU more resistant to regional and global challenges.

On a question about EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Ankara in early December, Fidan said Türkiye was very much willing to start high-level dialogue with the EU.

“Our observation is that she also wants to start this (high-level dialogue). Our President [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] is definitely willing to do so,” he underlined.

Leyen and Erdoğan discussed the recent developments in Syria and how Ankara and Brussels can cooperate in reconstructing the war-torn country and the return of millions of Syrians to their homeland.

They also agreed to intensify bilateral dialogue to develop Türkiye-EU ties, especially on the modernization of the customs union and visa liberalization. Both sides expressed their intention to hold a Türkiye-EU summit in 2025 to coordinate on how to proceed on all these issues.