I believe she will regret this. After all those years of membership negotiations with the country, her rotten conscience cannot accept Türkiye as part of Europe. Maybe that’s a good thing for Turks, I don’t know. Like Biden, her outdated political standing cannot adapt to the changing geopolitics. The biggest security crisis now comes from Israel, which she so hesitates to criticize. I have so much to say, but I’m too lazy to add now. Just got angry.
In a recent speech in Hamburg at the 80th anniversary event of Die Zeit, Ursula von der Leyen argued that EU enlargement is a “geopolitical necessity.”[2][3]
She said that Europe must “complete the European continent so that it does not fall under Russian, Turkish or Chinese influence,” explicitly listing Russia, Türkiye and China together as external spheres of influence the EU wants to avoid.[3][4][2]
Turkish and international media have correctly quoted this formulation, and some outlets explicitly note that she “put candidate country Turkey in the same pot as Russia and China.”[5]
At the same time, in other contexts she has continued to speak of the need for dialogue and cooperation with Ankara, so the remark is more about geopolitical competition than a formal “enemy” classification.[6][7]
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- https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/ab-komisyonu-baskani-von-der-leyen-avrupanin-rus-turk-veya-cin-etkisine-birakilmamasi-gerektigini-belirtti/3912789
- https://www.nefes.com.tr/avrupadan-ilginc-cikis-rus-turk-veya-cin-etkisine-girmeyelim-119513
- https://en.haberler.com/european-commission-president-von-der-leyen-we-19768491/
- https://www.ekoturk.com/haberler/ursula-von-der-leyen-avrupanin-gelecegi-rusya-turkiye-ve-cine-birakilamaz/
- https://www.diken.com.tr/avrupa-komisyonu-baskani-kitayi-rus-turk-veya-cin-etkisine-birakamayiz/
- https://yetkinreport.com/en/2026/03/04/the-positions-of-the-eu-russia-china-arab-countries-and-turkiye-in-the-iran-war/
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