EU, Turkey reflect on high-level meeting

ANKARA Turkish and EU politicians struck an upbeat note after high-level talks in Brussels on Tuesday, with one Turkish minister describing membership discussions as “backbone” of Ankara-EU relations. “If we put aside the accession negotiations, there is no way to speak of developing relations in energy, trade or fighting terrorism. Turkey is not only a neighbor country but also a candidate country,” Omer Celik, Turkey’s EU minister, said. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told a news conference “cooperation and dialogue need to be sustained in concrete, positive steps in areas of rule of law and fundamental freedoms”. She also said Tuesday’s meeting “provided us the opportunity to discuss issues that are very high on both of our agendas in a very comprehensive manner that we spent many hours together”. These issues included elements “fundamental to our relationship and the aspirations of the people of Turkey and the EU,” she added. EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said: “The EU has a great interest in close cooperation with a stable, economically secure and democratic Turkey on issues of common interest. “In our meeting we discussed how we can better structure our cooperation in economic security and migration issues.”