Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and business institutions have sent a letter to the European Union to support Türkiye’s accession bid to the bloc, the Economic Development Foundation (IKV) announced Wednesday.

The letter comes as EU foreign ministers are due to hold talks on Thursday about the recent reelection of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his diplomatic maneuvers regarding Sweden's NATO membership. The meeting builds upon a previous meeting this week of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee that said Ankara’s accession process "cannot resume under the current circumstances."

The letter, sent to EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said: "It is of high importance that Türkiye-EU relations continue toward the vision of full membership."

"Recent challenges, including the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, continuing green and digital transformation, energy security, the control of irregular migration and the sustainability of supply chains, have rendered it more vital for the EU and Türkiye to be in closer cooperation and to revive the accession process," it added.

"Considering that the EU enlargement process is in revival, the issue of accelerating Türkiye’s relations with the EU is of urgency in this context. Adopting such a visionary approach toward the future of relations will also have an impact on Türkiye’s return to the reform agenda and the resumption of the accession process.

Türkiye has the longest history with the union and the longest 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.

The EU said this was due to "the functioning of the democratic system, respect for fundamental rights and independence of the judiciary" in Türkiye.

The letter further underlined that the Turkish business world supported Türkiye’s economic integration with the EU.

It has been emphasized that the EU is the most important trade partner for Türkiye and Türkiye is the sixth most important trade partner for the EU, with total trade reaching $196.4 billion (TL 5.29 trillion) in 2022.

"This is the first time that we will discuss Türkiye since many many months," Borrell said ahead of the meeting in Brussels. He reminded that he met Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia recently.

"They want to relaunch the negotiations for accession, they want to put the European agenda high on their political approach to us. That is good news. The ministers will have to discuss how to answer the request of Türkiye," he continued.

Hinting that the Ukrainian EU candidacy has created a new dynamic in the region, Borrell said: "It will accelerate the process in the whole Balkans, and then Türkiye certainly wants also to be in the game. We have to look first at the modernization of our customs union and also for visas."

Ahead of last week's NATO summit, Erdoğan issued a surprise demand to link Sweden's admission to the defense alliance with a revival of Türkiye’s stalled membership talks with the European Union.