Türkiye eyes improved ties with EU during Irish presidency
Serkan Demirtaş - ANKARA
Türkiye hopes for a reset with the European Union during the upcoming Irish presidency — after a six-month deadlock with the Greek Cypriot presidency — and views the visit by three senior EU officials to Ankara as an indication of the importance of bilateral ties for Brussels, Turkish diplomatic sources have said.
Sources recalled that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will meet with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and two European commissioners, including Marta Kos, the commissioner for enlargement, and Magnus Brunner, the commissioner for internal affairs and migration on June 30 in the Turkish capital.
Kos is also expected to hold separate meetings with Treasury Minister Mehmet Şimşek, Transportation Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu and Trade Minister Ömer Bolat. In addition, Türkiye-EU high-level economic dialogue meeting will be held on July 2 in Istanbul under the leadership of Minister Şimşek and EU’s Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis.
The sources said the simultaneous visit of three senior officials to Türkiye can be seen “as an indication of the increasing importance the EU attaches to its relations with Türkiye in the changing global context.”
“The visit coincides with the period just before Ireland assumes the EU Presidency on July 1 and is expected to contribute to strengthening the constructive atmosphere in Türkiye-EU relations and giving renewed impetus to these relations,” the sources said.
Greek Cyprus will terminate its six-months mission on June 30 and hand it over to Ireland. During Greek Cyprus’s leadership, positive development and dialogue was stalled in Türkiye-EU relations.
EU membership ‘strategic priority’ for Türkiye
According to the sources, one of the key messages Minister Fidan will deliver to the EU delegation is that full membership to the EU remains a strategic priority for Türkiye and advancing bilateral ties on a constructive basis amid increasing global challenges will benefit both sides.
Fidan will also emphasize that the EU enlargement process should be conducted based on a fair and merit-based approach and that Türkiye expects equal treatment with other candidates. He will underline that Türkiye’s membership would also constitute a strategic gain for the EU, increasing the EU’s competitiveness, resilience and global effectiveness.
In this frame, removal of measures adopted by the EU in 2019 and concrete steps for revival of ties are among the expectations of Türkiye, the minister will inform.
Türkiye-EU Partnership Council should convene
The Turkish top diplomat will express Ankara’s satisfaction by the resumption of high-level dialogue meetings but underline the need for holding a Türkiye-EU Partnership Council without delay.
The need for establishing relations within a comprehensive and multi-layered institutional cooperation framework to create a regular, sustainable and predictable structure in the face of current geopolitical and geo-economic challenges will also be raised by Fidan during the talks, the sources said.
Fidan will also repeat Ankara’s calls for launching negotiations for updating the customs union as well as visa liberalization.
Other issues on the agenda include connectivity between central Asia to Europe, Ankara-Brussels cooperation on Mediterranean and Black Sea strategies, recent developments regarding the Russian occupation of Ukraine and the Middle Eastern conflicts.