The weakest link in EU-Turkey relations

The regression in relations between Turkey and the European Union has started to slow down following the April 16 referendum in Turkey when President Tayyip Erdoğan got what he wanted: a shift from a parliamentary to an executive presidential form of government.

Following the words of Christian Berger, the EU mission chief in Ankara, to the Hürriyet Daily News on May 9 in which he said both Turkey and the EU were "destined to find a way forward," President Erdoğan said on May 9 that Turkey was "willing to continue" its relations with the union on a "win-win basis."

Those words were quite different from Erdoğan's remarks during the referendum campaign, when he was telling people that he could put Turkey's membership application to a public vote by making it the subject of another referendum as well.

Similarly, in a statement after the referendum results were announced, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was not breaking off relations with Turkey. That is probably not only because of a migrant deal between the EU and Turkey that was reached with the orchestration of Merkel in late 2015 and early 2016.

Germany, which hosts more than 3 million people whose origins lie in Turkey, some of whom have German citizenship, values Turkey's strategic position. And it's not only Merkel, but many other European politicians are now aware that pushing Turkey away and trying to corner it because of rights violations and a regression in the quality of the judiciary and media freedoms could only make things worse for Turkish people, Turkey, Turkish-EU relations and the EU.

Turkish EU Minister Ömer Çelik has been carrying out low-profile discussions for the last few days prior to a meeting between Erdoğan and the two top EU officials,...