The Turkish ambassador to the EU, Faruk Kaymakcı, regretted on Monday 20 January that the EU is not taking action to strengthen relations with Turkey, despite a commitment to this effect being made in April 2024 by European leaders (see EUROPE 13393/5) following an initial call by ministers (see EUROPE 13227/6).
Speaking at the German Marshall Fund, he described relations as “negative”, “back to zero”.
“After five years of de-escalation and improvement in our relations with Greece, the EU is still not in a position to normalise the relationship to start high-level dialogues”, he explained, referring to the sanctions adopted by the EU against Turkey in July 2019 for its drilling activities off Cyprus (see EUROPE 12297/7).
“Even in engagement and dialogue, we see that the EU is being held hostage by the irrational, maximalist expectations, you know, of one or two Member States. And it’s really sad”, he denounced.
According to him, “the EU has now come to the conclusion that we can at least start one of the four blocked high-level dialogues: the one on the economy”. In addition, the EU has decided that it must give the green light to the European Investment Bank to restart its operations, the ambassador added. He summed up by saying: “So this is the outcome after two years of discussion”.
The modernisation of the Customs Union is also still at a standstill. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)