Accession negotiations backbone of Turkey-EU relations: Minister

The backbone of the relationship between Turkey and the EU is the accession negotiations, EU Minister Ömer Çelik said on July 25 following a meeting in Brussels that came after months-long tension between the two sides.

Speaking at a press conference following a high-level political dialogue meeting with EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn and EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini, Çelik said Turkey and the bloc should put effort to improve accession negotiations.

"The backbone of Turkey-EU relations is the accession negotiations. There cannot be any mention of improving relations such as in energy, trade or terror fight by putting the accession negotiations aside," Çelik said.

"Turkey is not only a neighboring country but also is a candidate country. We should make an effort to provide improvement in accession negotiations," he said.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu meanwhile admitted that there were problems in relations with the EU while urging for the continuation of dialogue despite different opinions.

The minister however reiterated that Ankara could not get sufficient support from the bloc in the aftermath of the last year's failed coup attempt.

"We are fighting against terror organizations… We tried to take steps within the law while struggling with those terror organizations and we are correcting the mistakes if there are one. The state of emergency was also imposed in line with the European Convention of Human Rights," Çavuşoğlu said, giving France as an example.

He also added that Ankara was working to resolve issues with Germany and hoped that ties would improve in the coming days.