Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced the need to return relations between Turkey and the European Union (EU) to the line that existed before the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy. This was announced by the head of Turkish diplomacy in an interview with the French television channel France 24.
“Our assessment comes down to the fact that Turkey and Europe as a whole, and Turkey and France in particular, should return to the line that existed before Sarkozy,” Fidan said.
The Turkish Minister noted that before the Sarkozi period, the political leaders of Germany and France, the two largest European countries, considered Turkey’s membership in the EU as a strategic step.
According to Fidan, from the Sarkozy era, the membership of Turkey began to be considered as a component of domestic policy, and Türkiye itself – from the point of view of identity policy.
At the same time, the Turkish minister drew attention to the existence of two approaches to the issue of strengthening European security.
The first of them is that Europe creates its own center of gravity in its region, including Turkey and showing a geostrategic position, thereby becoming more resistant to international chaos and geopolitical risks. The second approach is that Europe remains “very dependent on other players” in matters of its own safety, he noted.
“If Turkey became a member of the European Union in 2007 or 2008 … Because these were golden times. Because when Turkey provided this clear roadmap, the EU reforms were on the way, and not a single international player threatened Turkey. , requires a review.
At the same time, the Foreign Minister of Turkey noted the need to “return to the line that existed before Sarkozy.”
“Therefore, it is necessary to open the way to membership based on merit. Turkey must unite with Europe in order to form more effective power in the region,” the minister emphasized.
Speaking about the visit of the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Layen to Ankara and the possibility of the beginning of a high -level political dialogue between Turkey and the EU, Fidan said that in Ankara it seemed that she was not against such an opportunity.
“Mr. President (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) is certainly ready to move in this direction,” said the head of Turkish diplomacy.