TÜRKÇE
  Updated: 11/07/2017

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik met with EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik met with EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn in Ankara.

In the meeting held at the Ministry for European Union Affairs, meetings to be held regarding Türkiye-EU relations, accession negotiations, the acceleration of the visa liberalisation process, updating of the Customs Union and the 18 March  EU-Türkiye Statement were discussed.

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik made a press statement prior to his meeting with the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn at the Ministry for EU Affairs. Minister Ömer Çelik replied to questions on the news that there would be a call to suspend negotiations in the European Parliament Resolution on Türkiye to be voted on today and also on the call for enhanced cooperation instead of accession negotiations.

Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik, pointed out that the backbone of Türkiye-EU relations was the accession negotiations and said “Any proposal other than that of accession negotiations is in contradiction with all agreements between Türkiye and the EU as well as the nature of current Türkiye-EU relations.”

Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik reminded that this call was first expressed years ago by extreme rightist groups that were against the European Project and said:

“These are essentially, segments that are against European values. Unfortunately, we saw them diffuse into certain mainstream political movements with time. This is not acceptable: We reject proposals such as ‘there not be accession negotiations between Türkiye and the EU but instead enhanced cooperation on terrorism, migration and other areas’. Those who welcome such proposals are actually welcoming those who are hindering the European project. These are not sound proposals. If one day Türkiye or the 28 EU Member States decide to take such a decision, that is a different matter. However, today when such a decision has not been taken, trying to divert or code Türkiye-EU relations in this manner will create opportunities for those who wish to sabotage the European Project and will be a big mistake.”

Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik pointed out that there was instability in many parts of the world and discussions in transatlantic relations and emphasized that approaches that aim to create a crisis between Türkiye and the EU would not benefit anyone. 

Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik said that the EU did not set forth productive policies regarding its relations with Türkiye, which is a regional power carrying out accession negotiations, and stated that the most important item on the agenda should be democratic solidarity.

Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik also said “However, I cannot say that we have seen this since the 15 July coup attempt.”

Minister for EU Affairs also noted that the European Parliament, one of the EU institutions, did not meet its mandate regarding solidarity with Türkiye after the coup attempt and continued as follows:

"The President of the European Parliament criticized Türkiye for months and visited Türkiye 3-4 months later even though the Turkish parliament was bombed. Our expectation from the Members of the European Parliament was for them to be in solidarity with Türkiye in such a period, instead the EP called for ‘the suspension of negotiations’, which is wrong. This will be known in history as a bad decision.”

Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik noted that the European Parliament adopted resolutions regarding Türkiye that were not sound and said that such approaches should not be adopted by EU institutions. Minister Ömer Çelik said: “We cannot respect a resolution that contains expressions taking sides regarding sensitive matters of Türkiye’s foreign policy or contains expressions which do not recognize the results of a referendum in Türkiye that voted on constitutional amendments, even though the matter is beyond its competence.”

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik said that he would make an evaluation on the matter following the announcement of the European Parliament’s Resolution on Türkiye.

Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik noted that work to open the chapters would continue, and emphasized that some of the criticism to Türkiye from the EU was on the chapters.

Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik said: "However, the EU institutions are allowing their fundamental mechanisms to be blocked when they refer to the block placed by the Southern Cypriot Greek Administration or other reasons” and stated that the reason behind the chapters remaining closed was elimination of its own problem-solving mechanisms by the EU.

The Minister for EU Affairs Çelik informed the press on the areas to be discussed in his meeting with Commissioner Johannes Hahn and said that work was ongoing regarding what would be done in the forthcoming period following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s meeting with the President of the EU Council, EU Commission and the European Parliament on 25 May in Brussels.

The Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik expressed that steps would be taken to strengthen dialogue and referred to the importance of his meeting with Commissioner Hahn in this context. Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik informed the press on the political dialogue meeting at the level of Ministers and Commissioners on 25 July in Brussels, and stated that he would be travelling to Brussels in the following days to participate in the EU-Türkiye Joint Consultative Committee meeting.

The Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik underlined that the priority item on the agenda was Türkiye’s progress in the accession process and said: “In addition to these, there will be areas to intensify dialogue, such as economy, energy, fight against terrorism and foreign policy. We feel that the Türkiye-EU Summit agreed upon earlier being held this year is very important for developing dialogue at the highest-level. Visa liberalisation and the updating of the Customs Union will be the other important matters on the agenda.”

The Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik informed the press that the prevention of irregular migration and meeting the needs of the Syrian refugees are also priority matters addressed and said: “Türkiye has met its obligations within the framework of the 18 March Türkiye-EU Statement. This has been confirmed by the most recent progress report published by the EU Commission.”

The Minister for EU Affairs Ömer Çelik emphasized that clear and concrete support was expected regarding the fight against terrorism, FETÖ and PKK in particular, and stated that the fight against terrorism was an area that needed the most cooperation.

 

 

 


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Updated: 11/07/2017 / Hit: 6,369