European Union–Turkey relations

The European Union is ready to cooperate more with Turkey to tackle migration, European Council President Charles Michel said after a two-day meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

"We want responsible cooperation with Turkey," Michel told a news conference.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European Union leaders agreed at a summit that the question of arms exports to Turkey should be discussed among NATO members and in coordination with the next US administration.

Italy's foreign minister said on Dec. 10 that Turkey has great opportunities for economic cooperation in infrastructure, adding that he hopes for more cooperation in railways and other areas in the coming months.

The European Union announced early Dec. 11 that it has decided to impose additional sanctions on Turkish individuals and companies in light of Turkey's activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

As the EU Leaders Summit in Brussels continued, the union shared the relevant part of the final declaration on Turkey as they reached a consensus after long hours of negotiations.

Concerned that their credibility is at stake, European Union leaders are set Thursday to give the green light to the expansion of sanctions against Turkey over its exploration of gas reserves in Mediterranean waters claimed by EU members Greece and Cyprus.

The EU foreign policy chief on Dec. 4 said Turkey and the bloc share common interests on developing a good neighborhood.

Germany on Nov. 30 welcomed the return to port of Turkish research vessel Oruç Reis after completing its energy exploration mission in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Speaking at a virtual conference on Germany's EU presidency, Merkel said relations with Turkey, and recent tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, would be among the major topics of the EU leaders summit on Dec. 10-11.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel noted on Monday the lack of significant progress in the issues that affect relations between the European Union and Turkey, in view of the European Union leaders' summit in December.

"We have not made as much progress on the EU-Turkey relationship as we wanted," she told a virtual gathering of members of parliaments' European affairs committees.

Turkey will continue to implement an entrepreneurial and humanitarian foreign policy in the field and at the table in 2021, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Nov. 28.

Çavuşoğlu comments came during a presentation on the ministry's budget and structure as well as foreign policy goals and priorities at the Plan and Budget Commission of Parliament.

Turkey on Friday rejected a call by the European Parliament for sanctions against Ankara over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent visit to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in occupied north Cyprus, calling the demand "disconnected from the realities."