Turkey an important player in region – EU

‘Turkey is an important player in the region,’ claimed the head of EU diplomacy Federica Mogherini at a press conference in Ankara, the Turkish TRT Haber TV channel reported Jan. 25.

Mogherini said that relations between Turkey and the EU are continuing to develop.

Ankara applied for the EU membership in 1987, and negotiations on Turkey’s accession started in 2005.

Since then, the parties have agreed on 14 out of 35 technical points that Ankara must fulfill to achieve the standards required for EU membership.

In January 2015, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country is no longer interested in EU membership.

The same year, only 20 percent of the Turkish population wanted the country to join the EU compared to 75 percent, a figure reported in preceding years.

At the moment, the EU and Turkey are negotiating on a common action plan, which envisages the EU's financial assistance in the amount of 3 billion euros, the intensification of negotiations on Turkey's accession to the EU and the intensification of the visa abolition process for Turkish citizens. (Trend.az)