Stability in Europe is impossible without a balance in EU-Turkey relations, said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

He wrote about this in his blog.

According to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, tensions with Turkey have become one of the most important problems of the EU in 2020, and it is likely that this situation will continue next year.

Borrell recalled that European integration was associated with the need to eliminate conflicts between countries.

“Today it is still clear that the European Union will not be able to achieve stability on the continent until it finds the right balance in relations with Turkey and the Russian Federation,” Borrell wrote.

A year ago, when Borrell assumed his current post, relations between Brussels and Ankara were already developing along a downward trajectory, the diplomat noted.

Mutual expectations from the agreement signed by Turkey and the EU in 2016 after the migration crisis of 2015 did not come true, although this agreement helped to control migration flows towards Europe.

  • Josep Borrell

  • Reuters

  • © Olivier Matthys

“Turkey has become a significant regional force, and we have to reckon with it.

However, its international agenda is somewhat at odds with that of the EU, and Turkey's methods differ from those of the EU, ”says Borrell's article.

According to him, “this raises fundamental questions about Turkey’s goals.”

“The fact that Turkey is a candidate for accession to the European Union gives the EU every right to ask such questions,” Borrell stressed.

He explained that he welcomes the Turkish side's statements of interest in joining the European Union, but these statements must be confirmed by actions.

“We still have the opportunity to set a new vector of our relations.

The EU is making a generous offer to Turkey in the hope that it will not fail to accept it, ”Borrell added.

At the same time, experts find it difficult to say what exactly the head of European diplomacy means by a “generous offer”.

As the assistant professor of the Department of Integration Processes at MGIMO Alexander Tevdoy-Burmuli noted in the RT commentary, it is possible that we are talking about expanding the 2016 agreement.

“For example, the European Union can offer Ankara more significant amounts for the maintenance of migrants in Turkish territory.

Also, it may well be a question of additional coordination of the positions of European countries and Turkey on Libya.

However, such proposals may seem insufficient for Ankara, since recently Turkish ambitions have gone beyond what the EU can offer it, ”the expert said.

According to the director of the Center for the Study of a New Turkey, Yuri Mavashev, if by the proposal of Turkey the EU leadership means an invitation to Ankara to dialogue, then this is not enough.

"At the heart of the contradictions

between the EU and Turkey is the question of the difference in the perception of what is usually called European values, ”Mavashev explained in a conversation with RT.

Deep contradictions

We will remind, on December 11, it became known about the plans of the European Union to expand personal sanctions against Turkey.

The decision was made at the summit of the heads of the EU countries in Brussels.

The reason for the new restrictions was the geological exploration work on the Cyprus shelf, which is being carried out by Turkey, contrary to the position of the Republic of Cyprus and Europe.

The heads of state of the EU accused Ankara of "taking unilateral measures and arranging provocations", and also "toughened its rhetoric towards the EU."

In addition, the European Council called on the High Representative of the EU and the European Commission to provide a report on the state of political, economic and trade relations between the EU and Turkey before the meeting of the heads of EU countries in March 2021.

It should also include information on possible actions, including the extension of sanctions.

  • Turkish drilling ship Yavuz accompanied by the Turkish Navy frigate TCG Gemlik

  • Reuters

  • © Murad Sezer

Recall that the current confrontation in the Eastern Mediterranean is associated with the discovery in the 2010s of large gas fields on the Cyprus shelf.

From the point of view of the European Union, the only country that has rights to these resources is the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus.

However, Turkey disputes this and believes that the rights to develop the subsoil also belong to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized only by Ankara.

Turkey has launched drilling operations in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The drilling ships Fatih and Yavuz were sent to the area in 2019.

In 2020, Turkey sent another research vessel, the Oruc Reis, to the disputed region.

At the same time, the republic's authorities consider the EU sanctions unjust.

As Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, commenting on the results of the EU leaders' summit, Ankara demands that Brussels fulfill its promises.

Subsequently, he also stressed that Turkey will not allow violation of its rights and sovereignty.

“Turkey expects the EU not to sanction, but to fulfill its promises of full membership in the organization,” Erdogan said.

As Alexander Tevdoy-Burmuli explained, the key problem in the relations between the parties is that a number of EU countries, including France and Great Britain, oppose Turkey's membership in the union and block the process of its integration for geopolitical reasons.

“From a certain point, value differences were added to geopolitics.

Turkey is building an authoritarian regime, moreover, Ankara is positioning itself as a defender of Islam throughout the world.

For the EU, tired of multiculturalism, this is unacceptable, ”the expert explained.

  • A refugee from Syria in the Turkish province of Sanliurfa

  • Reuters

  • © Yannis Behrakis

The dispute over the subsoil of the Cyprus shelf is not the only reason for the disagreements between the EU and Turkey in recent years.

With the help of an agreement signed in 2016 between Ankara and Brussels, the EU leadership hoped to stop the influx of migrants from the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia.

According to the statistics of the European service Frontex, in 2015 about 885 thousand illegal migrants moved to the European Union along this route.

Let us remind you that Turkey then agreed to accept and place illegal migrants expelled from the EU on its territory.

In turn, Brussels pledged to take one legal Syrian refugee from Turkish territory in exchange for one illegal.

In addition, Turkey was to receive funding from the EU in the amount of € 6 billion by 2019.

The resumption of negotiations on Turkey's possible membership in the EU was another condition of the agreement.

Although the agreements were generally fulfilled, in early 2020 Turkey opened the border with the European Union for Syrian refugees.

As Recep Tayyip Erdogan said then, Brussels did nothing to help Ankara on the issue of refugees from the SAR.

"There can be no more talk"

It is worth recalling that Turkey made its first efforts to integrate into the European community back in 1959.

Then the republic applied for associate membership in the newly created European Economic Community (EEC).

In 1963 the parties signed an agreement granting Turkey the status of an associated member of the EEC.

However, in the future, the integration process stalled due to internal political instability in Turkey.

In 1987, Turkey applied to join the European Community, but it was rejected by the European Commission.

The exclusion of Ankara from the list of candidates in Europe was motivated by the fact that torture is practiced in the country, as well as by the fact that Turkish troops remain in Cyprus.

  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan

  • Reuters

  • © Presidential Press Office

However, in 1999, EU leaders nevertheless granted Turkey the status of a candidate for membership in the union.

Despite this, as well as statements by European officials, experts doubt that the country will be able to become a member of the European Union.

“The main question is what will be the further cooperation.

Relations with the European Union have never meant equality for Turkey.

And the Turks understand this and do not want to lose their political subjectivity.

Therefore, in the future, the dialogue can only concern the conditions for prolonging Turkey's status as a candidate for EU membership.

There can be no more talk, ”Yuri Mavashev is sure.

Alexander Tevdoy-Burmuli adheres to a similar point of view.

At the same time, in his opinion, today the republic is no longer so interested in European integration as before.

“The dynamics of political development in the past ten years has taken Turkey away from rapprochement with the EU, although formally it remains a candidate for membership.

Ankara retains this status in order to use it and receive some bonuses.

But it is obvious that joining the EU will eliminate the independence of Turkish diplomacy.

It is unlikely that the parties will be able to overcome their differences and return to a dialogue on integration, ”the expert predicts.