EU Member States Oppose Speeding Up Talks on Turkey's Accession – EU Source

According to diplomatic source, all EU member states are against speeding up Turkey's accession.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The acceleration of the negotiations on Turkey's accession to the European Union is opposed by all the bloc's member states, a diplomatic source in Brussels said Thursday.

"In fact, no one wants to accelerate the process of Turkey's accession to the European Union, but the main obstacle is Cyprus since Nicosia will continue to veto Ankara's accession as long as Ankara does not recognize Cyprus," the source told RIA Novosti.

Turkey is not an EU member but was officially recognized as a candidate for full EU membership in 1999. Despite negotiations over Turkey's EU membership being first initiated in 2005, they repeatedly became deadlocked and only restarted late last year when Ankara promised to help Europe cope with migrant crisis.

The 28-member bloc and Turkey reached a preliminary deal at a March 7 summit, under which Ankara pledged to stem the flow of Syrian refugees to the European Union in exchange for $3.3 billion and the fast-tracking of Turkey's EU membership bid.

Europe has been beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the majority of whom enter Europe by crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey.