President Recep Tayyip Erdogan charged the European Union on Saturday with drifting away from Turkey, whose attempts to join the organisation have stagnated in the wake of criticism of Ankara’s efforts to address issues with democracy and the rule of law.
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Oliver Varhelyi, the EU’s enlargement commissioner, visited Turkiye earlier this month and stated that, despite the “huge potential” of membership, the group needed to see progress on human rights issues before discussions could begin.
Before departing for New York to attend the UN General Assembly, Erdogan told reporters at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, “The European Union is trying to distance itself from us.”
He replied, “We will do our own analysis of the circumstances and we may also choose to go in another path.
After winning a challenging election in May, Erdogan has prioritised healing strained ties with Western allies following years of tensions caused by his government’s broad crackdown in the wake of an attempted coup in July 2016, which sparked claims of human rights abuses.
While on his trip, Varhelyi noted that addressing the criteria set out by the European Council would be necessary.
“And these criteria are related to democracy and the rule of law and, for example, a credible roadmap for moving forward with these reforms,” he added.