Turkiye asks EU to take bold steps to advance its membership bid

Turkiye’s top diplomat on Wednesday affirmed his country’s resolve to join the European Union and urged the 27-member bloc to take courageous steps to advance its bid.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan made the comments in a news conference with the EU’s top official for enlargement.

Their meeting in Ankara came as Turkiye tries to put its strained relations with the EU back on track.

“The European Union cannot be a truly global actor without Turkiye,” Fidan said. “It is vital that the path to Turkiye’s EU membership is cleared and the perspective for membership is revitalised.”

“Our expectation is that they display the determination needed to

advance our relations and that they are able to act more courageously,” he added. The country, which straddles Europe and Asia, became a candidate to join the EU in 1999 and started membership negotiations in 2005.

The negotiations, however, came to a standstill

in 2018 over Turkiye’s democratic backsliding and erosion of the rule of law under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as its disputes with EU member Cyprus.