European Commission President Juncker refuses to end accession talks with Turkey
- 3.8.2017 10:33
On Friday 4 August, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker rejected the German opposition's demands that the European Union ends accession talks with Turkey. According to Juncker, mutual communication is the solution to disputes between the EU and Turkey.
In addition to these measures, Germany also called for the suspension of financing of Turkey's pre-accession assistance (IPA) and the suspension of negotiations on a customs union. German disputes with Turkey have already led to the withdrawal of German forces from Turkey. In spite of these events, Germany intends to honour NATO's commitments and continue exporting arms to Turkey. Germany is not the only state that has permanent disputes with Turkey, another one being Greece, over the issue of Cyprus. According to Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, by suspending talks on a customs union with Turkey, the EU can gain economic leverage in the issue of Cyprus' unification.Turkey plays an important role for the EU in migration policy and therefore the EU is trying to find solutions to disputes and continue accession talks despite political developments in Turkey, where the biggest trial due to last year's coup attempt just started with 500 people being tried and mass arrests continuing.
