The lack of political will on the EU side is the major problem in improving ties with Türkiye, the Turkish top diplomat has said, reiterating Ankara’s readiness and commitment to advance the full-membership process should the former adopt a more decisive stance.
“We have never demanded special treatment and join (the EU) without fulfilling the conditions. There are of course conditions to meet if you want to join an organization and you are admitted to there when you meet these criteria,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a press conference with Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger in Vienna on April 29.
Fidan is in Austria for a two-day visit and was received by Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker.
On Türkiye-EU ties, Fidan recalled that Türkiye is ready to meet the accession criteria but cited the lack of political will on the EU side as a major obstacle.
“But the problem is this: There is no political will in the European Union that says, ‘When Türkiye fulfills the conditions, we accept it as an EU member,’” Fidan said, recalling that this political will was built and announced by former French President Jacques Chirac and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schöreder in early 2000s.
“But this was killed by [former French President Nicholas] Sarkozy in 2007,” Fidan underlined.
Türkiye’s objective is to further improve its ties with all European countries, Fidan said, recalling that it signed a strategic framework agreement with the United Kingdom last week.
“In fact, our ties with individual European countries are very well. We have very difficult issues with only of them and less troubled one with another but we have really good ties with all remaining countries in all fields including trade, security, defense industry and others,” Fidan stressed.
