Erdoğan: Türkiye more prepared for EU membership than Ukraine and Moldova
Photo: President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Getty Images)
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye believes that his country is more prepared to become a member of the European Union than Ukraine and Moldova, with whom EU leaders agreed to start accession negotiations last week, reports Anadolu.
After his visit to Hungary, the Turkish leader, in a conversation with journalists, stated that the EU needs to continue "carefully evaluating" Ankara's position.
Erdoğan emphasizes that forcing Türkiye to wait "by the doors of the EU" for years is wrong, blaming "political obstacles" for this delay.
"The strategic and economic potential of Türkiye shows that it has already achieved full EU membership, but we have been delayed for years due to various details... The EU needs to turn back from this mistake now," he said.
In this context, the Türkiye president commented on Ukraine's and Moldova's Eurointegration efforts, which received a "green light" for accession negotiations at the EU summit.
According to Erdoğan, they are not as ready to become EU members compared to Türkiye, which has been a candidate since 2005 but has not yet joined the EU.
"Giving them candidate status does not mean they will become EU members. A process will start with them, they will be stalled too. None of these countries are a Türkiye," he said.
He also thinks that "it is wrong for Türkiye, which is more ready to join the EU than some member states, to be kept waiting at the door for years due to political obstacles."
Türkiye's EU accession
It's worth noting that Türkiye's application for EU membership has been frozen for years due to the EU's concerns about human rights in Türkiye and differences over regional policies, including issues like Cyprus.
Earlier, Türkiye's ambassador to the EU stated that the country aims to join the EU by 2023.
