Juncker puts ball in Turkey’s court over EU

Brussels, Aug. 29: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday said that Turkey was fully to blame for the breakdown of its EU accession talks and warned Ankara was fast withdrawing from Europe.

Mr Juncker charged that, “Turkey is withdrawing from Europe by giant steps,” adding that it is up to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to officially call an end Turkey’s efforts to join the EU.

Mr Juncker said he suspected that Mr Erdogan was hoping that Europe would be the one to break off the talks “in order to blame the European Union” for their failure.

But the bloc must avoid “falling into the trap” as the “responsibility is entirely on the Turkish side,” he told an annual conference of EU ambassadors in Brussels.

“The question is to know if we must put an end to the negotiations — which is a purely theoretical question as there are no negotiations.”

Relations with Turkey, Turkey is withdrawing from Europe by giant steps… it is up to Recep Tayyip Erdogan to officially call an end to Turkey’s efforts to join the EU Jean-Claude

Juncker, and especially between Berlin and Ankara, have hit rock bottom in recent months, stoking calls for Ankara’s EU accession talks to be suspended.

Turkey began formal membership talks in 2005 after years of foot-dragging by some EU member states such as France, who were wary of admitting a large Muslim country.