Turkey must make progress towards democratization in order to resume accession negotiations with the European Union, Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varcheli said today from Ankara.

“Accession negotiations are currently inactive. In order for them to restart, there are very clear criteria that need to be defined (which include) democracy and the rule of law,” Hungarian Commissioner Várhely said during a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

“We discussed areas in which we can move forward,” the European official said, estimating that the partnership between Ankara and the EU has “tremendous potential.”

For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Brussels of putting “political” obstacles in the accession negotiations.

“We are going through a period in which Europe and the whole world are faced with various challenges. In this period, it has become more important than ever to promote Turkey-EU relations on a sound basis. It is clear that relations between Turkey and the EU should not be held hostage by the narrow political interests of some member states. The European Union cannot be a truly global actor without Turkey,” he said, among other things, and added:

“It is necessary to pave the way for the accession process of Turkey to the European Union for the revival of our relations based on the perspective of accession. Our honorable president also drew attention to this issue at the last NATO summit in Vilnius. At a time when the EU’s enlargement policy has entered its agenda due to geopolitical concerns, it would be a great strategic mistake to exclude Turkey from this process. The European Union should see Turkey as a candidate country that can negotiate with it and should meet its requirements. The European Commission, which is responsible for safeguarding the Union’s interests, must do its part. The European Union must fulfill its commitments and consider Turkey as a candidate country with which it can negotiate. The solidarity shown by the European Union after the earthquake we experienced was really valuable to us. I hope that this spirit of solidarity will be reflected in all aspects of Turkey’s relations with the European Union in the coming period. Today, together with Mr. Varheli, we reiterated our determination to pursue the strategic goal of joining the EU. We discussed how we can develop the relations between Turkey and the European Union to a higher level based on the constructive contribution of the Commission . We indicated that we would like to see a visionary approach and concrete steps in the report on Turkey-EU relations to be prepared by High Representative Mr. Borrell and the European Commission. In particular, on the occasion of this report we expect to consider the repeal of the Council Decree of 15 July 2019, which harms our common interests. Also, the resumption of the established Turkey-EU dialogue mechanisms is necessary to build trust”

He emphasized: “We give priority to the revision of the customs union. It will be in the interest of both sides to define the Customs Union according to the needs of today and the demands of tomorrow. Progress in the visa liberalization process is also among our expectations from the European Union. Visa liberalization will increase dialogue between citizens and will undoubtedly contribute to removing problems and prejudices in Turkey’s EU accession process. I also pointed out to Mr. Varheli our expectation that the recent targeting of our citizens in applications will be eliminated visas. I also reiterated that we must increase our cooperation in the fight against irregular immigration based on a fair sharing of responsibilities. We have once again recalled that in order to solve the problem of irregular migration, stability must be ensured in their countries of origin. As I again told Mr. Varkheli during our meeting today, we expect the European Union not to tolerate political obstacles. We want them to show the necessary will and courage to move our relations forward.”

Ahead of the NATO summit in July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the green light for Sweden to join NATO on the condition of resuming accession negotiations with the EU, most of whose member states are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Turkey, still an official candidate country, applied in 1987 to join the European Economic Community and in 1999 to join the European Union, but accession negotiations that began in 2005 have been frozen for years.

Ankara-Brussels relations have deteriorated since the failed July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey and the mass purges against opponents and journalists that followed.