Is the Negative Attitude of the EU Towards Turkey Left Behind?

• 06.19.2017, 19:02
•  Europe,  Region,  World

haberler.com

A new beginning in the EU-Turkish relations… This is what the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yıldırım declared when talking about Turkey’s relations with the EU. The fact that the relations between the EU and Turkey are gradually improving became clear after Erdogan’s visit to Brussels and after agreeing on a one-year action plan to restore relations.

Taking into consideration that the sides have mutual interests, hence the deterioration of the relations were caused mainly by mutual accusations, without any concrete actions, the agreement reached was of no surprise. Moreover, everything suggested that the developments will go in this direction. Turkey has already reaffirmed its willingness to continue the negotiations on becoming an EU Member State, despite the announcements made before, that they were not interested in it and would hold a referendum on the issue.

"Turkey is willing to pursue full membership talks with the EU and renew the Customs Trade [deal]," Yildirim said, Sputnik News reports.

However, in this process a part of the announcement made by Yildirim is of great importance.

"Unfortunately, the EU adopted a negative attitude in the aftermath of the [July 15, 2016] coup attempt and during the constitutional change process … But all of that has been left behind," Turkish Prime Minister said, Hurriyet reports. 

But what did cause the change of the stance and what is the reason that everything is left behind? Surely, the situation in Turkey after the military coup attempt has not changed in a positive direction, just visa versa – prosecutions, arrests, violations of freedom of expression, etc. have even been more intensified. In addition to this, Turkey has become a presidential country, where everything is concentrated in the hands of one man – Erdogan. Thus, nothing changed, simply Erdogan once again was able to deviate the attention of the EU from the internal developments in Turkey on other issues, as well as he managed to find the weak sides of the EU with which he can "play" and reap dividends.