ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2023) The European Union will discuss a report on the state of relations between Turkey and the bloc in the fall and will consider further steps on the country's membership in the organization and liberalization of the visa regime, Turkish news agency IHA reported on Sunday, citing diplomatic sources in Brussels.
On July 10, on the eve of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden could join NATO after Turkey's accession to the EU. Later that day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Erdogan had agreed to send documents ratifying Sweden's NATO membership bid to the Turkish parliament "as soon as possible," and Stockholm promised to facilitate Ankara's path to the EU.
"Turkey remains a candidate country and a key partner in many areas of mutual interest. The protection of fundamental freedoms and values as defined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), to which Turkey is a party, is essential to regain momentum," the sources told the news agency.
As for further developments on visa liberalization, "the report of the High Representative and the Commission of the European Council on the state of EU-Turkey relations will be discussed in the fall," the sources added.
"We can't predict the outcome of this discussion," they said.
After submitting a formal application to the EU in 1987, Turkey waited until 1999 to be granted candidate status. Membership negotiations began just six years later, in 2005, but the process appears to have stalled since then. In 2019, EU-Turkey talks were suspended after Brussels accused Ankara of suppressing free media and civil society in the country. Currently, only 16 out of 35 negotiating chapters have been opened in the process.
