Austrian FM to visit Turkey on Jan 25: Çavuşoğlu

ANKARA

Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl will visit Turkey on Jan. 25, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has stated.

Kneissl, recently appointed as foreign minister in the new Austrian government, will meet with Çavuşoğlu on the island of Büyükada, as Kneissl reportedly spent time on the island in her childhood.

“I feel she is sincere about restoring relations with Turkey. Why should we keep our ties with Austria tense if they have such an approach?” Çavuşoğlu told state-run Anadolu Agency on Jan. 10.

The two ministers reportedly had a phone conversation in December at Kneissl’s request.

In December, Austria’s center-right People’s Party (OVP) reached a deal with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) to form a coalition government after eight weeks of negotiations. On Dec. 16, they pledged a tougher approach to migration and stronger domestic security measures.

On Dec. 17, Ankara criticized a call by Austria’s new government to halt Turkey’s EU accession negotiations, saying it shows a “discriminatory attitude” that “ignores Turkey’s rights.”

“This unfortunate and short-sighted statement in Austria’s new government program unfortunately confirms our concerns about a political movement based on discrimination,” said a Foreign Ministry statement at the time.