Ankara hosted a significant meeting on Wednesday on the path to Türkiye’s accession to the European Union. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan received European Union Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi and called upon the bloc to advance relations and stalled accession process.
At a joint news conference with Varhelyi, Fidan said that the EU needs brave steps and a will for progress in relations. He added that the relations should not be "held hostage to interests of some countries."
"The EU cannot be a global actor without Türkiye," Fidan said. He added that there was no change in Türkiye's EU membership perspective and it had a very strong political will on the issue.
Varhelyi arrived in Türkiye on Tuesday for a two-day visit and earlier met Commerce Minister Ömer Bolat. Varhelyi’s visit marks the latest development in the complicated relationship between the bloc and Ankara, especially over the latter’s stalled membership process. In the wake of a NATO summit in Lithuania, where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced hope for momentum in the process, the expectations are high for Ankara. After a summer recess in EU bodies ends, the pair will likely give another try for full membership talks in the coming months. Türkiye anticipates concrete results from the dragged-out process, especially for an update on the customs union and visa liberalization. For its part, the European Union expressed willingness to strengthen ties while several members already enjoy warm relations with Türkiye.
The bloc seeks to iron out differences on several issues and progress in political aspects of the “Copenhagen Criteria” Türkiye must fulfill for membership, which includes nine chapters. Among the chapters are high-level dialogue meetings, counterterrorism efforts, security and defense, financial cooperation and communications.
Türkiye has the most extended history with the union and the most prolonged negotiation process. The country signed an association agreement with the EU’s predecessor in 1964, the European Economic Community (EEC), which is usually regarded as a first step to eventually becoming a candidate. Applying for official candidacy in 1987, Türkiye had to wait until 1999 to be granted the status of a candidate country. For the start of the negotiations, however, Türkiye had to wait for another six years, until 2005, a uniquely long process compared with other candidates.
Recently, Fidan stated it was “strategic blindness” to hinder Türkiye’s EU membership process. “It is essential to have a visionary view of Turkish-EU relations in the new era and revive the process with the perspective of full membership. This “blindness” cost Türkiye over five decades, as the process adhered to a course based on “need” for each other rather than joint strategic goals, and trust for each other for both parties has long been low.
Though Türkiye has been vocal about its ambition to join the bloc, it is also capitalizing on a new wave of expanding alliances sped up amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Indeed, Ukraine and Moldova are being considered for membership without fulfilling the necessary criteria, while Türkiye has been far ahead of them in this task.
Ahead of the NATO summit, Erdoğan said that the EU should pave the way for Türkiye just as Türkiye may pave the way for Sweden’s membership to NATO amid security concerns in the conflict’s wake. Before Erdoğan’s statements, Brussels had already expressed a desire for a renewed process after the former was reelected for a five-year tenure in the May 28 runoff. Before the work was paused for a summer recess, senior officials had stated that they were open for a debate on Cyprus negotiations, an issue thwarting the process. At a meeting before the summer recess in June, EU officials announced that the European Commission would draft a report on the status of Türkiye-EU relations. On July 20, EU foreign ministers convened for the first time with Türkiye on their agenda since 2021 as a positive sign of changing relations.
At the news conference with Varhelyi, Fidan said the EU should consider Türkiye as a candidate country and comply with the "principle of pacta sunt servanda." The minister also highlighted the issue of visa liberalization. "It will enhance person-to-person dialogue and will undoubtedly contribute to eliminating prejudice and other issues. I emphasized our expectations for an end to visa issues of our citizens in our meeting with Mr. Varhelyi," he said.
The dialogue on visa liberalization aims to eliminate the requirement for Turkish citizens to obtain visas for short-term touristic, business or family-related visits (90-180 days) to all EU member states except Ireland and the Schengen countries Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Norway. The said dialogue, launched simultaneously with the Türkiye-EU Readmission Agreement on Dec. 16, 2013, was carried out per a road map containing 72 criteria under five main groups. The rules document security in terms of preparation of passports in accordance with EU standards, biometric passports, ensuring the security of passports, identity cards and other similar documents, migration management ensuring adequate control and surveillance at the borders, international protection and EU transactions related to foreigners. They also include public order and security in terms of fighting and preventing organized crime, terrorism and corruption. In this context, harmonization with the EU acquis on the financing of terrorism, human trafficking and cybercrimes, judicial cooperation in criminal matters, protection of personal data, the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, non-discrimination, access to travel and identity documents, and access to identity documents of refugees and stateless persons and readmission of irregular migrants were also topics on the agenda. At that time, Türkiye implemented 66 of these conditions.
The six terms – the review of the Anti-Terror Law and the Penal Code, compliance of the Personal Data Protection Law and its institution with EU standards, making a judicial cooperation agreement with all member states, fully fulfilling the obligations arising from the readmission agreement, signing an operational cooperation agreement with EUROPOL and the approval of laws fulfilling the Council of Europe's GRECO recommendations –have still not been met. Türkiye has said some of these conditions are ready to be implemented soon.
Fidan also highlighted cooperation with the EU in the fight against irregular migration. "I reiterated the need to increase cooperation based on a fair share of the burden in our meeting," Fidan said. Türkiye is a gateway to Europe for thousands of irregular migrants and struggles to prevent migrants from Asia and Africa from taking perilous journeys through its land and sea borders with Europe, specifically with Greece. "We underlined that resolving the irregular migration problem should prioritize ensuring stability in source countries," Fidan stated.
Türkiye signed a migration deal with the EU in 2016 for the readmission of migrants leaving for Europe in exchange for visa liberalization for Turkish nationals, reinvigoration of Ankara’s EU accession process, modernization of their customs union, cooperation in managing migration flows and improving steps in counterterrorism. Türkiye has long complained that while it upheld its end of the deal, the EU did not keep its pledges, including on visa liberalization.
For his part, Varhelyi said that the formation of a new government in Türkiye (after incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was reelected in a May runoff) may advance EU-Turkish relations. He said his visit to Türkiye primarily aimed to revive the friendship and partnership between the EU and Türkiye and hailed "strong political and economic commitments." He stressed that relations with Türkiye always had a key significance and reiterated their support in challenging issues, such as "migration influx and devastation of earthquakes," referring to the Feb. 6 earthquakes in Türkiye's south. "Türkiye is a friendly country for us," Varhelyi said.
Fidan also touched upon the issue of recent clashes between Arab tribes in northern Syria and the U.S.-backed PKK/YPG terrorist group. He stated that the U.S. should end the policy of pressure on Arabs in Syria through the terrorist group.
