Reviving Türkiye-EU ties in everyone's interest, says FM Fidan

A positive approach by the EU without establishing a link to the Cyprus issue will serve the common interest, the Turkish foreign minister said, Report informs via Anadolu.

"We believe that reviving Türkiye-EU relations is in everyone's interest. However, we emphasized that establishing a link between the Cyprus issue and Türkiye-EU relations is not a healthy method and will not yield any results,” Hakan Fidan told Anadolu after attending the EU’s informal foreign ministers' meeting.

The meeting, which was held at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, lasted about two hours.

Emphasizing that EU membership is a strategic goal for Türkiye, he said they want to make progress on a positive agenda.

“If the EU also adopts a similar positive approach, this will be in everyone's interest," he added.

Ankara’s EU membership negotiations started in 2005 but entered a stalemate after 2007 due to the Cyprus issue and political opposition to Türkiye’s membership by several member states.

As for the invitation to the meeting, Fidan said it is a “positive development” in terms of reviving the ties with the EU as Türkiye has not been invited to these meetings for a while.

"Today, almost all of my EU colleagues emphasized that structural and regular dialogue and consultations should be continued with Türkiye in all areas, especially foreign, security and defense policies,” he said.

The EU envoys told Fidan that Türkiye is playing an important role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the war in Gaza, Syria, Iraq, the Middle East, Africa and the South Caucasus.

They underlined the importance of Türkiye and the EU holding closer and deeper consultations and forming common policies.

Fidan said concrete steps should be taken on technical issues in order for relations to gain momentum.