The head of the Delegation of the European Union in Turkey, Ambassador Nikolaus Meger Landrut, speaks of a retreat in the areas of the rule of law, human rights and democracy, which are recorded in the reports of the European Commission, and notes that the ball is in the “court” of Turkey» regarding the application of the political criteria for the resumption of accession negotiations. At the same time, he emphasizes that Turkey is not implementing the agreement on the readmission of irregular migrants from 2020, despite the reduction in the number of crossings to Greece.
"Political criteria are essential in the integration process and if we see a retreat in these criteria, we will see a greater divergence. It is up to Turkey to return to the accession process. Turkey needs to think about how it wants to respond to the issues raised in our report. Where this is not done, the result is, as you say, the accession process is on hold»? says the top EU diplomat in Ankara, in an interview with the Turkish news website T24.
Asked by T24's diplomatic editor, Jansu Chamlibel, if this means a de facto suspension of negotiations, Ambassador Landrut replies: "Negotiations are at a standstill, on hold. We evaluate the current situation in our reports. And all EU institutions must take decisions based on our reports. If the European Commission can report progress in areas such as the rule of law in its 2024 report, which will be published this autumn, then the Council can discuss how to move forward from there. However, the situation in Turkey has been in continuous decline in recent years, as reflected in our reports. Reports are public, anyone can see our estimates. The government of Turkey may agree or disagree with this report. But this is our assessment and these reports provide guidance to all EU institutions on how Turkey's accession process should proceed.
The head of the Delegation of the European Union in Turkey admits that the priority for the resumption of accession negotiations is the political criteria, avoiding to list these criteria in order of priority, but he mentions indicatively the implementation of the decisions of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights and the impact of Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on violence against women.
He also notes that "the Turkish government knows that the definition of terrorism is one of the criteria for the release of entry visas» for Turkish citizens in Schengen countries.
"The definition of terrorism is one of the criteria in the visa release process. The Turkish government knows this too. The government knows that the ball is in its court if it wants to move forward in other areas as well as in the process of visa liberalization. says Ambassador Nikolaos Meger Landrut. To the question of the editor of T24, he repeats that the definition of terrorism in Turkey is very expansive: "Yes, that also exists. According to our EU acquis, the definition of terrorism is a narrower definition. And this is what we expect from candidate countries.
The head of the European Union Delegation to Turkey also notes that Ankara has for a certain period of time done what it committed to in the 2016 agreement on the readmission of third-party nationals. countries without legal documents, but stopped in 2020. "In other words, asylum seekers have not returned from the Greek islands for four years".
To the remark of the editor of T24, that Greece does not report a large number of asylum seekers passing through Turkey, the German diplomat replies: "Regarding this agreement on migration, let me say that the bases for cooperation aimed at reducing immigration, and therefore reducing the number of deaths and misery in the Aegean, exist. In this process there has been a lot of support from the EU to Turkey to face this burden. Today the picture is not as clear as you say, it is a bit more complicated. I suggest you take a more detailed look at who took back, when and how many voluntarily returned.
He then characterizes as important the renewed cooperation at the operational level between the coast guards and border guards of Turkey and the neighboring European countries (Bulgaria, Greece, but also Italy). "We are seeing fewer arrivals from Turkey, but there are still arrivals. They are not zero, but of course it is difficult to deal with these immigration problems,» he adds and, recalling that last November a high-level dialogue took place between the EU commissioner and the new Turkish interior minister, he expressed the hope that there would soon be a second dialogue at this level, to make this cooperation more concrete and more effective.
Returning to the issue of visa liberalization for Turkish citizens, the EU's chief diplomat in Turkey notes that in the 2016 agreement regarding the readmission of irregular migrants, certain criteria for visa liberalization were set. "If you look at the road map there, it is clear that Turkey still has some criteria to fulfill. And the Turkish authorities know this. Among the criteria, there is both the definition of terrorism and harmonization with European legislation on the protection of personal data. These criteria are still waiting to be implemented by Turkey.
He confirms that in just one year the asylum applications from Turkish citizens in EU countries were more than 100,000, stressing that there are no applications for economic reasons, "asylum applications are always political". He observes, however, that 20% of these requests were accepted, while the remaining 80% of those who claim to have suffered political persecution have not been able to support their request. However, he emphasizes that four years ago there was not such a high number of Turkish citizens applying for asylum.
Finally, the head of the Delegation of the European Union in Turkey, Ambassador Nicolaus Meger Landrut, observes that Turkey's accession process to the EU is a long process, adding however that the situation of each country is different and each accession process is political.
«If the criteria are met quickly, the process is fast, if the criteria are met slowly or not at all, the process is slow. There is no mathematical equation here. In other words, we do not have a formula such that if a country applies to the EU as a candidate, it will be accepted within 10 years. In the case of Turkey, what is decisive at the moment is whether the criteria will be met or not, but of course in the end this will be a political decision. concludes the European diplomat.
Source: APE-MPE
