Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey’s long-standing aspiration to join the European Union (EU) will remain “impossible” without a profound change in the European bloc’s mentality, in an interview in which he made important statements regarding the future of global politics and Türkiye.
In an interview with Sky News Arabia that was widely reported in the Turkish media, Fidan accused Brussels of marginalising Turkey on the basis of identity, religion and civilisation, rather than political disagreements; in this respect, the Turkish Chancellor pointed out that there is a deep ideological barrier that continues to block progress in accession negotiations, despite the fact that Turkey and the EU-27 increasingly share common interests.
In this respect, the minister stressed that today there is more common ground between Turkey and the EU than ever before, despite which – he insisted – the main barrier to accession is “mentality”. In his words: “As long as the European Union maintains its current political stance towards Turkey, I don’t think Turkey will become a member of the EU“, he said during the interview.
Recalling that Turkey has been a candidate country for EU membership for decades, Fidan criticised European policies towards his country, saying that “As long as the European Union maintains a policy towards Turkey based on identity, it (EU membership) will never happen“, adding that this situation reflects both political and cultural stagnation on the part of the European bloc.
Fidan finally stressed that while the EU has succeeded in establishing a supranational structure within itself, it has failed to broaden and extend this supranational vision. “The EU has managed to become a supranational institution, but it has failed to become a supra-civilisational institution“, said the Turkish minister alluding to its lack of capacity to integrate nations with a different culture, adding that the European bloc keeps Turkey excluded because it considers it part of “a different religion and a different civilisation“.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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