...

Turkey not obliged to wait long time for EU membership - minister

Türkiye Materials 26 February 2015 16:02 (UTC +04:00)
Turkey is not obliged to wait for the EU membership for a long time, Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkir was quoted Feb. 26 by TRT Haber TV channel as saying.
Turkey not obliged to wait long time for EU membership - minister

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkey is not obliged to wait for the EU membership for a long time, Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkir was quoted Feb. 26 by TRT Haber TV channel as saying.

The minister said that Turkey's main goal is economic development and Ankara has already achieved this goal.

"Turkey's other objective is to reach EU standards," he said.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc earlier said that Turkey's accession to the European Union has lost its attraction for the citizens of the country.

"If previously 75 percent of Turkey's population supported the country's accession to the EU, currently, this figure has dropped to 20 percent," he said.

Earlier, Bozkir said the negotiations between Turkey and EU can't continue in the format required by the organization.

He said at the time that democracy in Turkey is at a higher level than in some European countries.

The Association Agreement was signed between the EU and Turkey in 1963. Ankara made a bid for EU membership in 1987.

The official talks on Turkey's accession to the EU resumed in 2005.

Turkey has fulfilled 65 percent of its commitments to the EU for accession to this organization.

Edited by CN

follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu

Tags:
Latest

Latest