EU welcomes Turkey’s reform agenda

The European Union welcomes the Turkish government's recently announced reform agenda, a senior diplomat said on Feb. 4 while visiting Turkey's central province of Kayseri. 

Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, met with prominent local figures including Ömer Gülüsoy, chairman of the Kayseri Chamber of Commerce, İhsan Sabuncuoğlu, president of Abdullah Gül University, and Ismail Emrah Karayel, a deputy lawmaker from the ruling AKP. 

"We received this well. We wish to see concrete steps in a direction which will lead to the opening of a window of opportunity in EU-Turkish relations," said Meyer-Landrut, referring to the Turkish government's latest push for reforms expressed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

"The reform package includes very essential issues such as economic reforms, judicial reforms and an EU action plan. This is important not only for the country [Turkey] but also for Turkish-EU relations. As such, we will closely follow the developments."

Meyer-Landrut also underlined the importance of confidence-building and focusing on positive steps in Turkish-EU relations.

Thanking him for his visit, Gülüsoy said the futures of Turkey and the EU are intertwined.