Turkey’s new chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagis (R) and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan pose for the media during a takeover ceremony in Ankara January 11, 2009. Bagis has been appointed as the country’s first full-time EU negotiator in an effort to revive its flagging drive to join the European Union. Entry negotiations were previously headed by Babacan, who was criticised in some quarters for a lacklustre performance on EU ties and is preoccupied with the Middle East crisis and Turkey’s two-year stint as a member of the U.N. Security Council. [REUTERS/Umit Bektas]
Turkey’s new minister for Europe
Those interested in seeing Turkey take its place in the European Union should welcome the appointment of Egemen Bağış as Ankara’s new chief negotiator. Mr. Bağış will be the first to admit, however, that one of his first jobs will be to convince those sitting on the opposite side of the table that he means business.
Turkey probes massacre petition
Prosecutors in Turkey open an investigation against the authors of an online apology for the Armenian massacres.
Kalaycıoğlu: 2009 may be make-or-break year with EU
Sabancı University Professor Ersin Kalaycıoğlu has said the government of Turkey should return to its reformist agenda with the goal of membership in the European Union because “the hour of reckoning is close.”
Twelve Years After: The EU-Turkish Customs Union Revisited
The history of Turkish-EU relations has had a quite long past going back to Ankara Agreement, which was signed in 1963. Having looked at the historical period, making a turbulent progress, Turkish-EU relations has started to gain acceleration after the second half of the 1980s, and evolved into a very different dimension with the sign of Customs Union. As known, Turkey established a Customs Union (CU) with the European Union as of January 1, 2006. In this framework, Turkey and EU have removed all barriers in front of trade excluding service and agriculture areas."
’Remarkable consensus’ in Cyprus talks
ISTANBUL – After acknowledging that the Cyprus talks made insufficient progress, the Cypriot leaders finally reach consensus on cooperation between the founder states and the federal state and the hierarchy of norms. International agreements will be discussed on their next meeting
President warns against impact of 1915 apology
ANKARA-The apology campaign for the events of 1915 would adversely affect the diplomatic efforts between Turkey and Armenia, says President Abdullah Gül, and the latest debates about the campaign do not help relations with Yerevan
‘Turkey has already apologized to the Armenians,’ USAK head says
Human rights violations during the forced deportation of Armenians during World War I did not go unpunished, a senior analyst at the International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO/USAK) in Ankara has said.
Discover more from Erkan's Field Diary
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.