Things not to do to save Turkey-EU relations

There are still things that all concerned parties can do to save relations between Turkey and the EU, which currently seem to be on a crash course heading to the wall.

Finding a way to get the immigration-visa liberalization agreement implemented is one of them. Turkish EU Affairs Minister Ömer Çelik signaled on Nov. 29 that European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans had been working on a solution package together with Turkish diplomats, which could bring some results in his upcoming visit to Ankara.

According to unofficial information in the political backstage, there are also works ongoing with Turkey's justice and interior ministries to amend demands to change the country's anti-terror law, despite the ongoing political trauma after the bloody July 15 coup attempt and acts of terror by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). 

Due to the general political circumstances, if the immigration-visa agreement is to be implemented, neither the granted visa flexibilities will be the same as Turkey desires nor will the changes in the anti-terror law be as the EU demands. But at least a compromise would show that the bureaucratic system is working behind closed doors, of course on the instructions of the respective political leaderships, despite the public war of words.

It seems that both Turkey and the EU intend to find a face-saving solution, an honorable exit. This is good, because Ankara-Brussels relations certainly need every bit of positive news they can get nowadays, regardless of how irrelevant and even if only for face-saving purposes.

After all, decreasing the tension in public opinion and moving it to a more low-key level in the public agenda is much...

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