Erdoğan asks EU to relaunch membership negotiations

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on March 22 asked the European Union to relaunch talks for Turkey to eventually become an EU member, on the eve of a summit focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

"We expect the EU to open quickly the chapters of the membership negotiations and to start negotiations on a customs union without yielding to cynical calculations," Erdoğan said after talks with visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Negotiations for Turkey’s accession one day to the 27-nation EU, which began in 2005, have stalled in recent years over tensions between the two sides.

EU heads of state and government are set to meet Wednesday in Brussels for a summit aimed at dealing with the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

NATO is also to hold a crisis summit on Ukraine on Thursday to which Erdoğan will also attend. 

The Turkish president has hosted talks in the last week and a half with four EU leaders and NATO.

An ally of Kyiv and NATO member, Turkey has been trying since the start of the Ukraine crisis to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.