Türkiye and the European Union should engage in a strategic dialogue amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, head of the EU delegation to Türkiye, said during a news conference with Turkish journalists at a gathering in Brussels.

Meyer-Landrut also assessed several issues affecting Turkish-EU relations and opportunities to improve the ties, pointing out that there has not been sufficient discussion on Türkiye’s integration into European security architecture.

"The attack on Ukraine created a whole other security situation. This is a challenge and Europe and Türkiye should have a strategic dialogue on this matter. We need a close dialogue to assess what will happen within the next five, 10 years. We are seeing a war in the middle of Europe in which one of the warring parties has nuclear power," he said. Meyer-Landrut stated that the Ukraine issue would continue dominating the agenda of Europe and Türkiye and the EU should explore ways of cooperation on the matter.

Visa issue

The EU envoy also spoke about the visa issue that troubles Turkish citizens seeking to travel to the member countries of the bloc. He denied the allegations of a policy of reduction of visas issued to Turkish citizens while acknowledging "problems."

"Visa applications from Türkiye increased by 30% compared to the previous year. One million visas are issued and visa rejection rates are around 15%, 16%. It is the global average," Meyer-Landrut said. He said member states of the EU can exert additional efforts and improve their capacity to resolve the problems while pointing out to "record rate of problems" in paperwork sent by applicants.

"There is a high number of applications with forged paperwork," he emphasized.