Accession of Turkey to the European Union

Ties between Türkiye and the European Union should return to pre-Sarkozy era, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said, referring to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy who suspended the advance in Türkiye's accession process when he came to power in 2007.

Turkish media outlets have reacted strongly to the anticipated accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Area, with headlines emphasizing a perceived negative impact on Turkey.

Turkey has officially applied to join BRICS, an economic alliance originally consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. This move has received full support from Russian President Vladimir Putin and could potentially shift Turkey's focus away from its European Union (EU) aspirations.

Foreign Ministers George Gerapetritis raised the issue, among others, of Ankara's reactions to the investigations conducted by the special Italian-flagged ship Ievoli Relume south of Kasos for the electrical interconnection project between Greece and Cyprus during a bilateral meeting on Thursday in Brussels with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the informal working lunch of EU foreign m

The Turkish top diplomat has reiterated the importance of Türkiye-European Union relations and urged Brussels not to disrupt progress due to shallow political agendas of certain member countries.

In a contentious response to the European Commission's annual enlargement report, Turkey has denounced the assessment as "unfair and biased." The report, which scrutinizes the progress of nine countries seeking EU membership, cited Turkey's "serious backsliding" on democratic standards, the rule of law, human rights, and the independence of the judiciary.

After decade of EU membership, everyone agrees it was a good move -but also that Croatia could have done better.

A senior Turkish official has called on the European Union to treat Turkey fairly, underlining that the candidate country's reform process will be accelerated to the extent consideration for full membership is strengthened.

Turkey and the EU held the "Political Dialogue Meeting" at the level of political directors of both sides following a three-year hiatus.

Turkey and the European Union will hold a political dialogue in Ankara on May 31, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said in a written statement.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the European Union to focus on common denominator between Brussels and Ankara rather than their differences and said that Turkey's full membership is a requirement for the bloc's future.