Erdogan Confirms Turkey's Determination to Become EU Member

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed during talks with the heads of the European Commission and European Council on Tuesday that Turkey remained committed to entering the bloc, his spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said.

Earlier in the day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel arrived in Ankara on a working visit for talks with Erdogan.

"During the talks, the sides discussed all aspects of EU-Turkey relations. The [Turkish] president stressed that our goal is to get full EU membership and stated the need for the European Union to take specific steps to support a positive agenda. The officials also discussed the situation in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Nagorno-Karabakh and the Eastern Mediterranean, calling for a joint fight against terrorism," Kalin said, as aired by Turkish broadcaster NTV.

The spokesman described the atmosphere of the meeting as "positive."

Negotiations on Turkey's full accession to the European Union began in 2005. However, relations between Brussels and Ankara deteriorated throughout 2020 due to long-standing disagreements over Islamic extremism and human rights, as well as a major feud over Turkey's drilling for gas in Greek- and Cypriot-claimed territorial waters in the eastern Mediterranean.