European Union–Turkey relations

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Sept. 13 that Turkey is distancing itself from the European Union and will not become a member of the bloc in the "foreseeable future."

Juncker said Ankara has for some time been "moving away from the European Union in leaps and bounds."

Bilateral crises with European countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands are causing serious destruction in Turkey's EU membership process. Turkey-EU relations are going through their worst period since the European Council meeting in Luxembourg on Dec. 12-13, 1997. EU countries are discussing suspension of the negotiations that began 13 years ago.

Populism and the upcoming elections in Germany are not the sole reasons of the current crisis between Turkey and Germany, according to a prominent scholar.

Turkey cautioned its citizens on Saturday to take care when traveling to Germany, citing what it said was an upswing in anti-Turkish sentiment ahead of a German national election later this month, reported Reuters. 

The war of words between Ankara and Berlin is creating ever more risk, perhaps in unintended and unforeseen ways. 

European Union Minister of Turkey Ömer Çelik called out on the European Union to focus on the future as "a rapprochement" between Turkey and the EU, amid the acceleration of discussions on the suspension of Turkey's full membership talks.

For sure, Turkey and the European Union are at a critical turning point in their decades-long relationship. The key question here is: Will they give each other one more chance to improve their bilateral ties? Or will they cut their ties?

Despite calls by German politicians to end Turkey's EU accession negotiations, European Parliament (EP) President Antonio Tajani said, "The dialogue must be open because we have the problem of migration and the fight against terrorism. We need to keep on talking and push Turkey to change its line."

In addition to being the first female German chancellor, the first to have grown up in the former East Germany, the youngest German chancellor since the Second World War, Angela Merkel is also the first born after World War Two.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the European Union to explicitly say if it does not want Ankara as a full member, describing German politicians' "anti-Turkey stances" as an implementation of "Nazism and fascism."