See-sawing relations between the European Union and Türkiye, which aspires to join the bloc, is on the agenda of Ankara after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched a drive recently to reignite stalled relations.

But Türkiye's top diplomat says the EU's attitude toward his country is a problem.

The EU considers Türkiye a "rival rather than a partner" and NATO members do not take Ankara’s security concerns into account, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Thursday.

That has led Türkiye "to develop more capabilities and alternative strategies," Hakan Fidan told parliament.

"It is not a choice for us," said Fidan, underlining that it has become a necessity for the "survival of the Turkish state and nation."

"I believe that if the Union takes concrete steps to revitalize our country's membership process, this will create new opportunities for both parties," he said.

Stressing that Türkiye is determined to advance the integration process with the EU, he said the bloc must display the "necessary will."

"It is essential for the EU to get rid of the lack of strategic vision and common sense caused by the narrow self-interest of some of its members. Unfortunately, the EU does not take the same encouraging steps for Türkiye as it does for other candidate countries," he noted.

Türkiye, an official candidate for joining the bloc, applied for membership in 1987, and accession talks began in 2005. In the years since, talks have been essentially frozen due to political roadblocks by certain EU members for reasons unrelated to its suitability for membership, according to Ankara.

As for relations with NATO, Fidan said the alliance and bilateral relations in the Euro-Atlantic geography have been one of the important topics of Turkish foreign policy for the last 70 years. "When we look at the policies implemented by some NATO countries in recent years, the support given to PKK/YPG in Syria and the sanctions imposed on Türkiye in the defense industry create a contradiction," he said.

Noting that Türkiye expressed the contradiction on every platform, he said it also harms the security of NATO countries and poses geo-strategic risks.

For Sweden’s accession process, he said the Turkish Parliament will make a final decision. Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership shortly after Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022.

Although Türkiye approved Finland's NATO membership, it is waiting for Sweden to fulfill its commitments not to provide shelter to terrorists or supporters of terrorists and not to facilitate their actions.

President Erdoğan signed Sweden's NATO accession protocol and submitted it to parliament in October for a ratification vote.

Solution for Gaza

The minister also spoke about the situation in Gaza amid the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as he addressed the lawmakers debating his ministry's budget. Türkiye favors and works for a cease-fire in Gaza, and a two-state solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict, Fidan said.

"Firstly, we are making efforts to ensure a cease-fire, to deliver humanitarian aid and to prevent the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza," he added. He stressed that lasting peace and security can only be established with a two-state solution, adding: "The problem cannot be solved before the Israeli occupation ends. A sovereign and independent Palestinian state must be established as soon as possible."

Underlining the importance of regional countries embracing the problem, he said the guarantor mechanism that Türkiye proposed addresses the matter, as the conflict deeply affects the entire region.

"We continue to engage in international initiatives together with my colleagues in the Gaza Contact Group established as a result of the Extraordinary Joint Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League," he said.

The Contact Group enabled Islamic countries to jointly take diplomatic initiatives by taking a common stance, he noted.

The international community was forced to take a stand as a result of the contact group’s efforts, he added. On Dec. 12, at the U.N. General Assembly, a draft resolution on an emergency humanitarian cease-fire was accepted with 153 votes.

"Compared to the vote on Oct. 26, the change in the attitude of the 27 countries, who previously abstained, in favor of Palestine is an indication that our diplomatic contacts are effective," he added. On Wednesday, the vote on a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a suspension of hostilities in Gaza to deliver aid was postponed for the third day in a row.

The text, drafted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), calls for the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access and for urgent steps toward a sustainable cessation of hostilities. Reminding that more than 20,000 innocent civilians, including 70% of whom were children and women, have been killed in Gaza, he said it was alarming that some Western countries publicly "support Israel's massacres and war crimes."

On the humanitarian efforts, the minister said Türkiye had delivered 2,500 tons of humanitarian aid for Palestinians to date. "We also brought 283 cancer patients and injured people to our country. Our efforts to establish a field hospital in Gaza continue," he added.

Türkiye also evacuated a total of 1,149 people from Gaza, and "continue the evacuation of our remaining citizens and their family members aiming to complete it safely as soon as possible," he said.

Fidan also said that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will soon visit Türkiye for the 8th Türkiye-Iran High-Level Cooperation Council meeting.

Since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip killing nearly 20,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring more than 52,000 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

There’s also been widespread destruction of homes and other infrastructure, besides shortage of food, water and medicines.

Israel says 1,200 people were killed in an Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas.