Türkiye on Thursday rejected a European approach that links Ankara’s EU membership to the Cyprus issue.
Türkiye applied for EU membership in 1987 and has been a candidate country since 1999.
“The conclusions on Türkiye by the Special European Council held in Brussels on 17-18 April 2024 are yet another example of the EU's lack of strategic vision on Türkiye and global developments,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in an official statement.
It said Ankara will never accept an approach that links progress in Türkiye-EU relations to the ongoing dispute over Cyprus, stressing that the EU has a strategic interest in developing a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship with Türkiye.
“In the coming period, we will review our dialogue with the EU on the basis of reciprocity, taking into account the pace, level and scope of the EU's steps towards Türkiye,” it added.
In the conclusions adopted on Türkiye this week, the Special European Council said, “The European Union has a strategic interest in a stable and secure environment in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the development of a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship with Türkiye.”
It also called for progress in implementing the recommendations outlined in a joint report presented by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell with the European Commission in November 2023.
But Ankara said the conclusions on Türkiye are yet another example of the EU's lack of strategic vision on Türkiye and global developments.
“It is necessary to abandon an understanding which reduces these multifaceted relations to the Cyprus issue. Such a mentality cannot make a positive and constructive contribution to the problem, nor to the other regional and global issues,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
Borrell's report prepared with the European Commission concerning Türkiye suggested restarting Partnership Council and High-Level Political Forum meetings at the ministerial level, increasing the number of sectoral high-level dialogues on climate, health, migration and security, agriculture and research and innovation.
Meanwhile, the Turkish foreign ministry reiterated its commitment to the bloc’s membership. “However, we reject the selective limitation of bilateral cooperation to certain areas. In the coming period, we will review our dialogue with the EU on the basis of reciprocity, taking into account the pace, level and scope of the EU's steps toward Türkiye,” it said.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, stressed in a post on X how the EU has a strategic interest in a stable and secure environment in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the development of a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship with Türkiye.
Elsewhere, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday that advancements in relations between the EU and Türkiye are linked to progress on the Cyprus problem.
“I am satisfied with the conclusions we have reached, which recognize the fact that relations between the European Union and Türkiye may progress, but always within the framework of the decisions taken by the European Council in recent years,” he said.
“I welcome the fact that there is an explicit reference linking the progress of EU-Türkiye relations with the progress that can be made on the Cyprus issue,” he added.
In a related development, Türkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is scheduled to meet with his Dutch counterpart Hanke Bruins Slot in a visit to the Netherlands on Friday, marking the tenth edition of the Wittenburg Conference between the two countries.
“Minister Fidan and his Dutch counterpart will exchange views on bilateral relations, Türkiye-EU relations, and regional developments,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Türkiye and the Netherlands signed a memorandum of understanding on strengthening Türkiye-Netherlands relations and establishing the Türkiye-Netherlands Conference in 2008.
