Turkey, EU fail to reach ‘concrete solutions or compromises’ after talks

The EU on Monday said it failed to reach any “concrete solutions or compromises” with Turkey in talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeking to repair tattered relations.

Erdogan held a working dinner with European Union President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief JeanClaude Juncker in Bulgaria with a litany of issues clouding their discussions.

These include EU alarm at Erdogan’s crackdown on perceived opponents following a coup attempt in 2016, the arrest of journalists, Turkey’s military operations against Kurds in northern Syria and squabbling over Ankara’s deal to halt the flow of refugees into Europe.

This has all whipped up an increasingly acrimonious war of words and made Turkey’s prospects of joining the EU – an objective that Erdogan insisted earlier on Monday that Turkey still pursues – appear even more remote.

Tusk said they made little tangible headway at the summit in the Black Sea resort of Varna.

“In terms of concrete solutions, we did not reach a concrete compromise today but I still hope it will be possible in the future,” Tusk told a joint news conference.

Tusk said improved relations would depend on progress on issues including the rule of law and press freedom as well as Syria. Erdogan told reporters: “We hope that we have left a very difficult period behind in Turkey-EU relations.”

However he added: “We don’t want rambling or unfair criticisms on sensitive issues like the fight against terror. We expect strong support.”

Juncker said the summit was one of “mixed feelings but not mixed messages,” adding: “It was a good meeting because as this is the normal principle between big democracies, we were able to talk in all frankness and openness.”

Temperatures rose further last week after EU leaders condemned Turkey’s “illegal actions” towards Greece and Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Sea.

Ankara hit back at the “unacceptable comments” and said the EU had lost its objectivity on Cyprus, divided between the Greek-majority internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.