EU wants "greater alignment" from Turkey

EU wants "greater alignment" from Turkey

ANKARA -- The EU and Turkey need greater "alignment" on foreign policy "to tackle threats including Islamic State," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said.

Speaking in Ankara during "one of the highest-ranking EU visits to Turkey in years," she said Turkey, a EU candidate, "signed up to less than a third of the bloc's recent foreign policy positions, compared to some 80 percent in the past," Reuters reported.

According to Mogherini, the lack of alignment is a problem for the European Union, "but it is mainly a problem for Turkey."

Turkey has been negotiating for EU membership since 2005. According to Reuters the progress has been slowed by "political obstacles, notably over the divided island of Cyprus" and also, "resistance to Turkish membership from some EU countries."

Mogherini was accompanied by Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides and the visit is aimed at giving "new impetus to the relationship, including urging closer cooperation against Islamic State and pressing Ankara not to undermine EU sanctions on Russia."

The visit comes a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Ankara where he announced his country was abandoning the South Stream gas pipeline project, "and named Turkey as its preferred partner for an alternative."

According to Mogherini "the EU would not be drawn into a battle with Russia for influence over Turkey."

"It would be good if in the future we create more areas for cooperation rather than competition (with Russia) but Turkey is definitely out of this game, if there is a game in this sense," she said.