ISTANBUL: The European Union’s enlargement commissioner told Turkiye on Wednesday to address issues around democracy and the rule of law if it wants to boost its drive to join the bloc.

Ankara secured a pledge from Brussels to resurrect stalled membership negotiations in exchange for lifting its blockade of Sweden’s drive to join the Nato military alliance.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made mending torn ties with Western allies one of his priorities after winning a difficult election in May.

The EU’s enlargement chief Oliver Varhelyi came to Ankara to try and gauge where the sides could find common ground.

Varhelyi told reporters that he hoped to come up with “something tangible and something positive” for the bloc’s leaders to discuss at a European Council summit in December. “I think this partnership has huge potential,” he said.

But Varhelyi noted that negotiations were currently at a “standstill” and needed action by Turkiye on human rights issues to move on.

“For this to be remobilised, there are very clear criteria set out also by the European Council that would need to be addressed,” Varhelyi said.

“And these criteria are related to democracy and the rule of law and, for example, a credible roadmap for moving forward in these reforms.”

Closer trade hopes

Turkiye first applied to be a member of the European Economic Community — a predecessor to the EU — in 1987. It became an EU candidate country in 1999 and formally launched membership negotiations with the bloc in 2005.

The talks stalled over European concerns about human rights violations that came in the midst of a sweeping crackdown Erdogan launched after surviving a failed 2016 military coup. But Ankara accuses Brussels of never seriously considering membership for what would be the largest majority-Muslim nation of the 27-nation bloc.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2023