Turkey–European Union relations

The Turkish foreign minister on July 8 met with his Finnish counterpart and discussed bilateral and regional issues as well as EU-Turkey relations.

Speaking at a joint news conference after their bilateral meeting, Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Finland's Pekka Haavisto underlined the importance of EU-Turkey relations to counter common challenges.

Turkey decried a resolution adopted on July 8 by the European Parliament alleging the "repression of the opposition in Turkey, specifically the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)."

Thousands of people took to the streets of Turkey's largest cities to protest against the country's withdrawal from an international treaty to combat violence against women.

Protests were planned again over the weekend as an appeal against the withdrawal from opposition parties was rejected by the Council of State on June 30.

Tens of thousands of Turkish women rallied across the country on Thursday evening to protest the government's decision to pull out of the so-called Istanbul Convention on domestic violence and women's rights.

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said Turkey's move was a step backwards for international efforts to end violence against women, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, thousands of people took to the streets of Turkey's largest cities to protest Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.

Tanjug/AP Photo/Kemal Aslan

Shared Interests

European Union flags. Photo: EPA-EFE

In an exclusive opinion piece for Balkan Insight, the foreign ministers of the EU's 'Trio Presidency' - Germany, Portugal and Slovenia - reaffirm the EU's commitment to enlargement and opening accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia.

Turkey has a limit to the burden it will carry on migration, according to a statement by the spokesman for Turkey's AKP.

Ömer Çelik criticized the European Union at a news conference late on June 29 for "reducing the issue of migration to merely financial aid," which he viewed as "a lack of vision, unsustainable in the long run, a grave mistake."

By Professor Konstantinos Filis

The European Union has once again preferred to defer essential decisions regarding Turkey.

Brussels and major EU capitals have not yet decided what kind of relationship they want with Turkey and upcoming elections in Germany further delay things.

A U.K. minister from Foreign Office is set to pay a three-day visit to Turkey, an official statement said on June 26.

Wendy Morton, U.K. minister for European Neighborhood and the Americas, "will be visiting Ankara and Hatay which hosts the UN cross-border aid operations to Syria" on June 27-29, according to the statement issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

The European Commission announced June 24 that it has adopted a number of conclusions on Turkey after the first day of an EU Leaders' Summit in Brussels, Belgium.