Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey and the EU “may diverge.”
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Turkey signed an association agreement with the EU (then EEC) in 1963, and applied for membership in the union in 1987. However, accession negotiations began only in 2005, and were repeatedly suspended due to disagreements. Currently, 16 of the 35 chapters of the negotiation dossier are open.
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Erdogan previously stated that the West has not kept its word to Turkey for 50 years and is slowing down the country’s accession to the EU.
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“If you want to know my assessment very clearly, the European Union is seeking to separate from Turkey. During this period, when the European Union is taking steps to separate from Turkey, we make our assessments in the light of these events, and after these assessments, if necessary, our “We may part ways with the European Union,” Erdogan said at a press conference at the airport in Istanbul before flying to the United States for the UN General Assembly.
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Erdogan said earlier that Sweden’s accession to NATO will become possible after Turkey is admitted to the EU. Later, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Erdogan agreed “as soon as possible” to send papers to ratify Sweden’s application to join NATO to the Turkish parliament. Sweden, as a member of the European Union, promised, in exchange for ratifying the application, to help intensify the process of Turkey’s accession to the EU.
