Renewing Türkiye-EU relations benefit all parties: FM
The Turkish Foreign Minister stated on Thursday that a constructive approach by the EU, not tied to the Cyprus issue, would be in the shared interest of both parties, News.Az reports citing Anadolu agency.
"We believe that reviving Türkiye-EU relations is in everyone's interest. However, we emphasized that establishing a link between the Cyprus issue and Türkiye-EU relations is not a healthy method and will not yield any results,” Hakan Fidan told Anadolu after attending the EU’s informal foreign ministers' meeting.The meeting, which was held at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, lasted about two hours.
Emphasizing that EU membership is a strategic goal for Türkiye, he said they want to make progress on a positive agenda.
“If the EU also adopts a similar positive approach, this will be in everyone's interest," he added.
Ankara’s EU membership negotiations started in 2005 but entered a stalemate after 2007 due to the Cyprus issue and political opposition to Türkiye’s membership by several member states.
The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded in 1983.
The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.
Türkiye fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on sovereign equality and equal international status.
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