On Sunday 26 January, the Turkish ambassador to the EU, Faruk Kaymakcı, suggested that 2025 could be the year to strengthen relations between the EU and Turkey, acknowledging that at present these are “still low not to say minus”.
“We want to bring our relations to a normal level, which means we should get rid of these restrictive measures from July 2019”, the ambassador explained to a number of journalists, including Agence Europe.
Although after the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in December, Commissioner Hadja Lahbib and EU High Representative Kaja Kallas visited Turkey in January, the ambassador felt that more needed to be done. “Until we have a structured mechanism established, we will not be able to implement a joint action. This is why we are insisting that we have either a high-level political dialogue or an Association Council as soon as possible, or both”, explained Mr Kaymakcı.
The Turkish representative pointed out that, at the ‘Gymnich’ Council on 29 August 2024, to which his minister had been invited, Turkey and the EU had concluded that they should have a “permanent, regular and structured dialogue”, raising the ambassador’s hopes that “in 2025, we will be able to resume all high-level dialogues”.
In 2019, following tensions in the Mediterranean, four high-level dialogues on energy, transport, the economy and politics were suspended. Although the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative proposed the resumption of the dialogues (see EUROPE 13303/18), only the dialogue on the economy has been unblocked. Other dialogues have been launched, including on trade (see EUROPE 13448/22), agriculture, migration and security. According to the ambassador, the EU’s objective is to have a high-level dialogue on migration as soon as possible. But the Turkish side would first like to see concrete measures from the EU on the other dialogues.
The ambassador also called for the launch of negotiations for the modernisation of the Customs Union, also foreseen in the joint communication. “The modernisation of the Customs Union is a must. This is not something that Turkey needs, but it is a must”, he added. Mr Kaymakcı pointed out that Turkey was the EU’s fifth largest trading partner, with a trade volume of €220 billion, and that this trade was limited solely to industrial products. Many areas, such as services, agriculture, energy and public procurement, are not part of the EU-Turkey customs union “whereas, if you look at the new generation of trade agreements, they are all included”, regretted the ambassador.
Finally, Mr Kaymakcı called for visa liberalisation. Turkey still has to meet six conditions. “Meanwhile, visa facilitation must be provided to Turkish citizens. Every year, 70,000 students, academics and artists wait months to obtain a visa or to take part in European programmes such as Horizon Europe, Erasmus and the European Solidarity Corps. (...) The same goes for business people”, the ambassador highlighted. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)