Turkey-EU to hold political dialogue meeting

ANKARA

The Turkey-EU Political Dialogue Meeting will be held on Sept. 13 in Brussels, the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated.

During the meetings, developments in the Turkish accession negotiations process, financial cooperation including pre-accession funds (IPA), visa liberalization process, update of the Customs Union, as well as significant areas of Turkey’s cooperation with the EU, such as counter-terrorism, migration, security and defense, are expected to be discussed, said the ministry in a statement on Sept. 11.

The Turkish delegation will be headed by the Deputy Foreign Minister and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Faruk Kaymakcı and the EU delegation will be headed by Deputy Secretary-General Jean Christophe Belliard and Director-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission Christian Danielsson.

Turkey will open its borders with Europe if a safe zone in Syria fails to actualize, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently warned, blaming the international community, especially the European Union, for not providing enough support and financial assistance for Syrian refugees.

A March 2016 migrant deal between the EU and Turkey stipulates that all irregular migrants crossing from Turkey into the Greek islands will be returned to Turkey and that for every Syrian being returned to Turkey from the Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU. In return, the deal obliges the EU to disburse 3+3 billion euros to Turkey in order to share the burden. Apart from these items, the March 2016 statement suggests re-energizing Turkey’s accession process, accelerating the visa liberalization process for Turkish nationals and working on upgrading the customs union.

Given the fact that Turkey’s accession process is on standstill, Ankara and Brussels have yet to launch visa liberalization dialogue and no mandate is given to the European Council for an upgrade of the customs union yet.