Turkey is “completely isolated” on the international stage and must abandon its aggressive rhetoric if it wants to develop its relations with the European Union, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Turkey said today in Istanbul Nacho Sanchez Amor.

“Avoid using aggressive and threatening tones is easy, has an immediate effect and is free. (…) You are completely isolated. Your only true friend is Azerbaijan,” Sanchez-Amor said during a press conference held in Istanbul.

“We expect a new tone and signs of re-engagement from the Turkish side,” he added.

Negotiations between Turkey, a country that has been a candidate for EU membership since 1999, have been frozen since 2018.

In its latest report on the state of negotiations with candidate countries, published in November, the European Commission found that “Turkey’s unilateral foreign policy continues to contradict the EU’s priorities in the context of foreign policy and common security”. .

“I know that many Turkish foreign policy decisions are made taking into account how domestic public opinion perceives them,” Sanchez-Amor also said.

“Despite the current situation, the EU is ready to engage in other areas to move relations forward,” he clarified.