Three senior EU officials to visit Turkey next week

Baku. 4 December. REPORT.AZ/ Turkey’s EU membership and the Cyprus dispute will be among a host of issues that will be discussed when three high ranking EU officials visit Ankara next week, Turkey’s EU minister said Thursday.

High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn and European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides are the three officials who will visit Turkey.

They will meet Turkey's EU Minister Volkan Bozkir and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for a quartet meeting, informs Report citing Anadolu Agency.

Bozkir said Turkey's EU accession process and Cyprus issue will be discussed with the EU officials.

"Mogherini and Stylianides will also visit Gaziantep where Syrian refugees have taken shelter," Bozkir said.

The minister made the remarks during his meetings with ambassadors at the EU ministry headquarters in Ankara.

Turkey applied for its EU membership in 1987, while accession talks began in 2005.

However, negotiations hit a stalemate in 2007 because of Turkey’s position over the Cyprus issue and opposition to its full EU membership by German and French governments.

Turkey has to successfully conclude negotiations with the EU in 35 policy chapters, which involve reforms and adoption of European standards to get the membership.

So far, 14 chapters have been opened, while 17 remain blocked and a further four have yet to be discussed. Only one chapter has been opened in the past three years.