Turkish foreign minister attends EU meeting after five years

Reuters

Turkey’s foreign minister hopes to make progress on improving Ankara’s rocky relations with the European Union on August 29 when he attends a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels for the first time in five years, a source from his ministry said.

Turkey’s two-decade-old bid to join the bloc has been frozen due to EU concerns about its human rights record alongside policy disputes in the eastern Mediterranean and over Cyprus.

At the same time, the bloc relies on the support of NATO member Turkey, especially on migration issues.

Tensions in 2019 between EU member Greece and Turkey led to Brussels threatening sanctions against Ankara and cutting off some channels of dialogue. Relations have improved since 2021, with high-level talks resuming.

Ankara saw the EU’s invitation to Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan as an effort to seek dialogue, the foreign ministry source said. Deeper ties “with the understanding that Turkey is a candidate country” would benefit both sides, they added.

Fidan will convey Turkey’s expectation that it will be necessary to “show the necessary will and take concrete steps” to strengthen relations, the source said.

The meeting will include discussions on visas as well as the modernization of the EU-Turkey Customs Union, the source added.

Ankara has been calling for these talks to begin for months, but little progress has been made.

Fidan will hold separate talks with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and the bloc’s enlargement commissioner Oliver Varhely, as well as his counterparts in Greece, Spain, Belgium and Slovakia, the source said.

Ukraine, tensions in the Middle East, the South Caucasus and other issues were also on the agenda, the source said.

The visit comes amid Ankara’s constant criticism of Western allies for what it calls its unconditional support for Israel in the war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.