Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle, stressed in İstanbul the need to rescue Turkey’s European Union membership talks that are currently at standstill, reiterating “strong bilateral ties” both countries enjoy.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle had talks in İstanbul on Friday.
“We have discussed Turkish-EU relations,” Davutoğlu told a news conference after his bilateral talks with Westerwelle on Friday, who is a foreign minister visiting Turkey after July 12 vote that brought Davutoğlu’s party to power for the third time in a landslide victory.
Turkish foreign minister said he shared with his German counterpart that one of most important agenda item in Turkish foreign policy after June 12 vote is the candidate country’s ties with the EU.
No single chapter was opened in the past 12 months which further made Turkey lose its already declining apetite for a membership in the 27-nation bloc.
Wary of stalled process, Davutoğlu pointed to a necessity for a “new strategic viewpoint” in Turkish-EU relations, immediately stressed that Turkey already has one: Turkey sees its future in Europe and it has a will to make it whole with the EU in the shortest time period.
Davutoğlu said Turkey rejects agenda items that are not related to the negotiation talks and calls for opening negotiation chapters. “Turkey wants strategic decision that was made by the two sides in 2004 to be realized,” Davutoğlu underlined.
Turkey opened accession talks with the EU in 2005 but has been able to begin talks on only 13 chapters, out of 35, so far. The EU Commission has suspended talks on eight chapters due to Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU member Greek Cyprus. In addition, France, a vocal opponent of Turkish membership, also blocks talks on five chapters that it says are directly related to accession.
In a sign of even further deterioration, Turkey and the EU have been unable to open talks on any chapter for the past 12 months. Talks were planned to begin on the competition chapter last year, but were postponed due to what the EU says insufficient preparations on the part of Turkey. With the government unwilling to take painful measures required to meet EU criteria to open talks on the competition chapter, it is not clear whether talks on that area could begin soon.
Davutoğlu said Turkey has fulfilled its responsibility regarding Cyprus problem and other areas, noting that Turkey has faced with double standards.
Davutoğlu thanked Westerwelle for his “clear position” on Turkey’s EU membership and said Turkey attaches importance to Germany’s position in upcoming period as it will be determining the future of Turkish-EU relations.
Westerwelle also said he supports speeding up Turkey’s EU membership talks based on certain criteria, stressing that the sides need to treat with each other with fairness and respect.
Speaking about Turkey’s importance in the region and bilateral ties, German foreign minister said Turkey is a strategically key country in solving global and particularly regional problems and that Turkey is a good partner and friend for Germany.
“Turkey’s regional vicinity is experiencing a historic transformation and Turkey is playing a key role in this. This is a necessary reason to discuss Turkey’s full membership in Europe in a fair and respectful way,” Westerwelle said, adding that it is not a positive development that no any chapter opened in the past year.
via Davutoğlu, Westerwelle speak of rescuing Turkey’s EU bid.