content tagged with EU-Turkey relations

The EU Asylum Agency announced numbers of asylum and temporary protection applications in August, which were the highest since 2016.

The European Union is going to cut 40 percent in financial aids planned to be granted to Turkey. Human rights and respect for the rule of law are sought for financial aid.

After the EU-Turkey leaders’ meeting in Varna aimed at renegotiating the EU-Turkey relations after more than one year of deadlock, the leaders of the EU and Turkey have held a joint press conference. While Tusk has expressed his concerns about Afrin, Erdoğan has demanded ‘visa liberalization’.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Hahn has told Die Welt that the focus needs to be not on Turkey’s accession negotiations but on strategic partnership, remarking that the EU cannot “ignore significant deficits in the rule of law in Turkey”.

Making evaluations prior to the meeting, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Hahn has stated that Turkey is slipping away from European values and it has to take action.

European Commissioner Hahn has said that Turkey is moving away from a European perspective, and the future ties might be established on an economic cooperation.

Talking on the EU-Turkey relations, Vice Prime Minister and Parliamentary Spokesperson Kurtulmuş said; “What will the European politicians do who dither in panic when they see a few thousand Syrians, when they have to confront hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants?”

The European Parliament’s joint motion for a resolution on EU-Turkey relations and the temporary freeze of the on-going accession negotiations with Turkey has been passed by majority. The resolution is of advisory nature for the European Union.