President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, en route to the 78th U.N. General Assembly in New York, hinted that Turkey might reconsider its pursuit of European Union membership, citing the EU’s efforts to distance itself from Turkey.
He expressed readiness to assess the situation and potentially terminate the membership bid, responding to a recent European Parliament report suggesting that the accession process couldn’t resume under current conditions, urging the EU to explore alternative frameworks for EU-Turkey relations.
Turkey applied for EU membership in 1999, with accession talks commencing in 2005 but subsequently freezing in 2018 due to perceived democratic setbacks, as noted by the European Parliament.
Erdogan’s statement followed Turkey’s foreign minister’s affirmation of their commitment to EU membership, urging the EU to take bold steps to advance the process, and came more than a week later.
(Source: Associated Press)
