Turkey’s EU membership more important than ever, says Deputy Foreign Minister
Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister, who is at the same time Director of European Affairs, Faruk Kaymakcı, said that Turkey’s accession to the European Union is currently a more significant goal than ever.
Speaking to local Turkish media on the 35and anniversary of applying for full EU membership, Kaymakcı said the country will continue negotiations despite the unfavorable development, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.
Turkey was recognized as a candidate for full EU membership in 1999 and negotiations started in 2005. However, they have been halted since 2019 due to government crackdown on media, civil society and academia, among others.
According to Daily Sabah, Kaymakcı noted that the negotiations were almost at a standstill due to the Cyprus issue as well as due to other “negative perceptions” some EU member states have towards Turkey.
Nevertheless, it was underlined that Turkey is still a candidate and will continue negotiations as this is a very important issue.
Besides seeing it as a crucial issue for the country, Kaymakci said earlier this month that Turkey’s EU membership could have prevented the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Speaking on behalf of EURACTIV, Kaymakcı said current developments had given the wrong message of a weak and divided Europe. He said that if a solution was found to the Cyprus issue in 2004, Turkey’s EU membership could have prevented the war in Ukraine as well as the war in Syria and Iraq.
“Imagine that we found a solution to the Cyprus problem in 2004. We may have already become a member of the EU. Turkey’s EU membership could have prevented the war in Syria, the war in Iraq and even the war in Ukraine. said Kaymakci for EURACTIV.
Furthermore, he went on to say that the EU should help the process and not allow veto rights to be abused.
Earlier in 2021, the European Union Commission explained that Turkey had not yet met other outstanding visa liberalization criteria, suggesting that the country should align its legislation with that of the EU in visa policy.
Turkey has yet to meet five out of a total of 72 benchmarks. The other five criteria that Turkey must meet are fighting corruption, meeting EU standards on personal data legislation, concluding an operational agreement with Europol, offering judicial cooperation with Member States in criminal matters and the review of legislative practices in the area of terrorism in accordance with EU standards.
