'Win-Win' Scenario: Finnish FM Voices Support for Turkey-EU Cooperation

Cooperation between the European Union and Turkey would present a "win-win" scenario for both sides, and could result in better trade, security and prosperity for both Brussels and Ankara, Finland’s Foreign Minister Timo Soini said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Speaking to Turkey’s Anadolu news agency, Soini said that a successful conclusion of the Cyprus peace talks in the Swiss city of Geneva would serve as a "model that results are obtainable" in relations between Turkey and the European Union.

Soini added that Ankara and Brussels should continue working together on the refugee issue, as the absence of such cooperation would create "more problems" for both sides.

Turkey and the European Union have a long history of cooperation. Ankara signed an association agreement with the then-European Community in 1963, and submitted a membership application in 1987. Talks about the country's membership of the European Union began in 2005. The negotiations on Turkish EU membership have been repeatedly suspended due to the Cyprus dispute and Turkey's record of denying press freedom, among other obstacles.

Earlier in the week, the Cyprus reunification talks with the participation of Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades was held in Geneva. The talks were joined by Cyprus’s guarantor countries — Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union.

In March 2016, Ankara and Brussels agreed on a deal, under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis.