EU will continue talks with Turkey: EU foreign policy chief

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s European Union membership accession talks will continue, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Sept. 4, underlining Ankara’s role as a partner in the region.     
   
“We are continuing to talk with Turkey,” Mogherini said in the northwestern Slovenian town of Bled, where she came for the 2017 Bled Strategic Forum.
        
She stressed that Turkey remains a partner in the region in many different areas and is still a candidate country.
        
“So, we will continue talks, it will be up to the internal discussions we will have and most of all to the discussions we will have together with them to define the future of our relations,” Mogherini said.
        
Speaking to reporters, Mogherini said important EU contacts from Ankara, including Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu, were also attending the forum.        

She also described the latest Turkey-EU High-Level Political Dialogue in late July in Brussels as “good talks.”        

“We are not always agreeing on everything. There are some issues … that are taking our positions very much apart, but talks continue,” she added.        

The statements followed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her center-left rival Martin Schulz clashing over Turkey policy in a televised debate on Sept. 3, with Schulz making a surprise proposal to halt Ankara’s EU membership talks and freeze its pre-accession funds.