Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakci said on Wednesday that the European Commission's claim that Ankara's talks with the European Union concerning accession to the bloc have "come to standstill" are groundless and unacceptable
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th May, 2019) Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakci said on Wednesday that the European Commission's claim that Ankara's talks with the European Union concerning accession to the bloc have "come to standstill" are groundless and unacceptable.Earlier on Wednesday the European Commission released its annual report on Turkey, in which said that Ankara "has been moving further away from the European Union" and its EU accession talks therefore came to a stalemate. In addition, the report stressed that Brussels was still concerned over "negative developments" in such areas as rule of law, human rights and Turkey's judicial system.
"Groundless criticism of Turkey in this report is unacceptable. The European Commission did not manage to assess the true state of affairs in our country. There are circles in the European Union that prevent Turkey from joining it under various pretexts," Kaymakci told reporters.
The deputy minister added that Turkey would continue its track for joining the bloc and noted Ankara's progress in complying with criteria required for accession.
Earlier in May, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that EU efforts to ensure its declared values were "doomed to failure" without Turkey's full-fledged membership in the bloc, adding that Ankara fulfilled 66 out of 72 criteria put forward by the European Union as a condition for the introduction of a visa-free regime.
In 1963, Turkey signed an agreement with the European Economic Community, the European Union's predecessor. In 1987, Ankara filed an application to become an official member of the bloc, however, the negotiations between the two sides did not begin until 2005.
The bilateral talks stalled in 2016 following an attempted coup in Turkey, which was suppressed by the authorities, who introduced a state of emergency in the country and proceeded to purges of tens of thousands of people accused of being involved in the coup. The European Union condemned the Turkish authorities' tough measures toward the opposition, including mass detentions, which became another stumbling block in the accession talks.
