Turkey has become internationally isolated and must soften its rhetoric if it wants to achieve crucial concessions from the European Union, a leading member of the European Parliament claimed on Wednesday.
Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, stated that Ankara’s harsh language on foreign affairs was one of the major obstacles to improving relations with the EU.
Turkey is seeking easier access to European visas for its citizens and an update of a 1995 customs agreement that could positively affect exports.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last week recommended offering the country both in exchange for a number of concessions. These include the withdrawal of Russia’s sanctions evasion assistance and progress on the divided island of Cyprus. Sánchez Amor added another condition on the last day of his fact-finding mission to Turkey, which included meetings with opposition groups:
To refrain from using an aggressive tone, a threatening tone, is free and easy. You are completely isolated. The only real friend you have is Azerbaijan.
Turkey has been an official candidate to join the European Union since 1999, but the process has been effectively frozen since 2018 due to European concerns over Turkey’s human rights record and adventurous foreign policy.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to make a rare visit to Greece in a bid to mend ties between the two historic foes this week.
He repeatedly criticised the West during his re-election campaign in May and used a closely watched visit to Germany last month to denounce Berlin’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas. Sánchez Amor claimed he realised such rhetoric appealed to the Turkish public.
I know that many decisions of Turkey’s foreign policy have a domestic approach. To be a good cooperative neighbour or to be a member, there are different paths and conditions.
