Turkish-EU political dialogue meeting held in Ankara

A Turkish-EU political dialogue meeting was held in the capital Ankara on Tuesday, the first such meeting in some three years.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of two of Turkey's top diplomats, Deputy Foreign Minister and Director for EU Affairs Faruk Kaymakcı and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal.

The meeting at the political director level was attended by Enrique Mora, the EU's deputy secretary general for political affairs, EU Commission Deputy Director General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Maciej Popowski, Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, and other senior EU representatives.

"We are happy to be able to hold a dialogue meeting at the level of political directors between Turkey and the EU after (a gap of) three years," Kaymakcı said in his opening remarks.

Stressing that Turkey is a "key country" for Europe's security, defense, economy, energy security, and migration management, Kaymakcı said Turkey expects "fair treatment" of its EU membership bid, adding that the nation's reform process will gain momentum with the acceleration of its membership process.

"We are living in difficult times. Russia has attacks on Ukraine and we must stand together against this situation," said Moda, adding that Turkey is an important partner of the EU.

At the meeting, the delegations also exchanged views on Turkish-EU relations as well as regional issues.

Turkey has been an EU candidate country since 1999.

Negotiations for full membership started in October 2005, but have stalled in recent years due to political hurdles erected by some countries, according to Turkey.