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Turkey's accession to the EU

The UK is strongly committed to supporting Turkey's accession to the European Union and assisting Turkey in the process of reform necessary to achieve this goal.

See the speech made by Foreign Secretary David Miliband on a recent visit to Turkey.

Accession to the EU: Turkey's progress

The Helsinki European Council of December 1999 granted Turkey candidate status. Accession negotiations started in October 2005 following essential reforms including the abolition of the death penalty, new protections against torture, greater freedom of expression, and increased respect for minorities. Despite the slow pace of reform since 2005, Turkey continues to fulfil the Copenhagen political criteria for membership. Turkey now needs to renew its reform momentum.

Progress in the negotiations is steady. As of February 2008 the screening process was nearly complete, and Turkey had opened 5 chapters and provisionally closed 1.

Upon publication of the European Commission's 2009 annual strategy on olli rehn (Getty Images)enlargement, Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn commented:

"Turkey has shown renewed political reform efforts. Progress with its accession negotiations hinges on this momentum, especially the consolidation of fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. We welcome the recent consultations on an important Kurdish initiative which, I hope, will result in concrete actions for the rights of all Turks."

The Ankara Agreement Protocol

On 11 December 2006 at the General Affairs and External Relations Council, EU Foreign Ministers met in Brussels to discuss Turkey's failure to implement the Additional Protocol to the Ankara Agreement (the customs union between Turkey and the EU). This requires Turkey to open its ports and airports to all EU member states, including Cyprus, which it does not recognise. The Council agreed that, until Turkey implements the Protocol:

  • 8 chapters of negotiations relevant to the Ankara Protocol will not be opened
  • No further chapters will be closed
  • The Commission will monitor progress through the regular annual reports, particularly in 2007, 2008 and 2009
  • The screening process will continue and chapters for which technical preparations have been completed will be opened in accordance with established procedures

The European Commission's 2009 Progress Report on Turkey's candidacy for EU membership emphasised that Turkey had had made no progress towards fully implementing the Additional Protocol.

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