"Turkey regards it [the freezing of the EU-Turkey negotiations] as the European Union's demonstration of the policy of double standards … In this context, we regard the last case [European Parliament’s decision to liberalize vise regime with regard to Ukraine and Georgia] as another evidence of applying double standards," Gunal said, adding that there was no other way to interpret the European Parliament’s actions.
Gunal stressed that in case the European Union has genuine intentions with regard to the issue of Turkish membership, then the parties should discuss the existing problems and find a solution together.
In March, Brussels and Ankara worked out and agreed on a deal, under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants that had arrived to the European Union in exchange for Syrian refugees on a one-for-one basis. In return, the bloc pledged to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime, as well as provide financial aid to Turkey to cover the costs of migrant reception.
Turkey signed an association agreement with the then-European Community in 1963, and submitted a membership application in 1987. Talks about Ankara's membership of the European Union began in 2005. The negotiations on Turkey's EU membership have been repeatedly suspended due to various obstacles.
