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EU, Turkey reflect on high-level meeting

Turkish ministers, EU officials hold hours of talks in Brussels

Ersin Çelik
09:11 - 26/07/2017 Wednesday
Update: 11:54 - 26/07/2017 Wednesday
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Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Omer Celik (L), Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (2nd L), High Representative of European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of European Commission Federica Mogherini (2nd R) and European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn (R) hold a joint press conference following EU-Turkey High Level Political Dialogue meeting at European Union (EU) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on July 25, 2017.
Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Omer Celik (L), Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (2nd L), High Representative of European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of European Commission Federica Mogherini (2nd R) and European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn (R) hold a joint press conference following EU-Turkey High Level Political Dialogue meeting at European Union (EU) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on July 25, 2017.

Turkish and EU politicians struck an update note after high-level talks in Brussels on Tuesday, with one Turkish minister describing membership discussions as “backbone” of Ankara-EU relations.

“If we put aside the accession negotiations, there is no way to speak of developing relations in energy, trade or fighting terrorism. Turkey is not only a neighbor country but also a candidate country,” Ömer Çelik, Turkey’s EU minister, said.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told a news conference “cooperation and dialogue need to be sustained in concrete, positive steps in areas of rule of law and fundamental freedoms”.

She also said Tuesday’s meeting “provided us the opportunity to discuss issues that are very high on both of our agendas in a very comprehensive manner that we spent many hours together”.

These issues included elements “fundamental to our relationship and the aspirations of the people of Turkey and the EU,” she added.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said: “The EU has a great interest in close cooperation with a stable, economically secure and democratic Turkey on issues of common interest.

“In our meeting we discussed how we can better structure our cooperation in economic security and migration issues.”

#Federica Mogherini
#Johannes Hahn
#Mevlut Cavusoglu
#Omer Celik
#the EU
#Turkey
7 years ago