Turkey’s State Minister for EU affairs and Chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis met with Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen as part of his talks in Copenhagen on Tuesday.
Following his meeting with Espersen, Bagis spoke to reporters and ruled out any shift in Turkey’s axis.
“Turkey will continue to be the most western country of the East and most eastern country of the West. Our allies are aware of this,” Bagis said.
“Turkey has always been seen as a bridge between the East and the West. Nobody wants to cross a bridge with one pier decayed. All piers of the Turkey bridge, in the east, west, north and south, all of them are being reinforced concurrently,” he said.
Asked about Turkey’s EU bid, Bagis said political stonewalling against opening of negotiation chapters was very annoying for Turkey.However, Bagis said, in this period Turkish government was working to raise standards of the country, not to open chapters.
“We have done what we had to. But of course, Turkey will not throw up the sponge or be demoralized just because some countries blocked chapters. The important thing is priorities of the Turkish people,” Bagis said.
Bagis also said that Danish government’s support to opening of chapters continued. He said Danish Foreign Minister Espersen would pay a visit to Turkey in February.
AA