On Tuesday, December 19 December, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that the European Union will slow down the accession of Ukraine and Moldova, adding that Ankara has long earned the right to join the bloc, but is being forced to wait for political reasons. This was reported by Reuters, according to UNN.
Details
Last week, EU leaders agreed to start talks with Ukraine and Moldova on joining the bloc. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the move a "victory" for Ukraine and the European continent.
Speaking to reporters on his return from Hungary, Erdogan said that Turkey, which has been an EU candidate since 2005, has long earned the right to join the bloc, a process that has been stalled by what he called political obstacles.
Granting them candidate status does not mean that they will become EU members. The process will start with them, they will also be stopped. None of these countries is Turkey. It is wrong for Turkey, which is more ready to join the EU than some member states, to wait at the door for years because of political obstacles,
Addendum
Turkey's EU membership application has been on hold for years due to EU concerns about Turkey's human rights record and disagreements on regional policy, particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean and the ethnically divided island of Cyprus. the ethnically divided island of Cyprus.
Although NATO membership is likely still many years away, the decision taken at the summit in Brussels brings Ukraine closer to its long-term strategic goal of to gain a foothold in the West and free itself from Moscow's influence.
Erdogan said that Turkey's "strategic and economic" potential has long earned it the right to join the bloc and added that progress in this process will be seen during the EU presidency of Hungary, with which Turkey has good ties."