President Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey could 'part ways' with European Union if necessary

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Saturday (September 16), accused the European Union of distancing itself from Turkey and further threatened to part ways with the EU.

The report, which was adopted earlier this week, said that Turkey's acquisition process with the 27-member bloc cannot resume under the current circumstances and also called for the European Union to explore a " parallel and realistic framework" for its ties with Ankara.

"The EU is trying to break away from Turkey," Erdogan told reporters ahead of a trip to the United States. "We will make our evaluations against these developments and if necessary, we can part ways with the EU."

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Earlier this week, Turkey's Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that the European Parliament report held unsubstantiated accusations and prejudices and took "a shallow and non-visionary" approach to the country's ties with the EU.

The EU's enlargement commissioner Oliver Varhelyi travelled to Turkey earlier this month, where he said that while the membership had "huge potential", the bloc needed to see action on human rights issues before the talks resumed.

Varhelyi said, "There are very clear criteria set out also by the European Council that would need to be addressed".

"And these criteria are related to democracy and the rule of law and, for example, a credible roadmap for moving forward in these reforms," he said.

Turkeys demand overSweden's NATO bid

In July, Erdogan released a statement saying that he would only support Sweden's NATO candidacy if the European Union resumes membership talks with Ankara. His remarks came at the time of the NATO summit.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had reacted to Erdogan's demand terming it as 'unrelated' to the issue of giving Sweden the security guarantees afforded by the world's most powerful military organisation.

Erdogan asserted that many of the same leaders who were blockading Turkey's EU membership now wanted him to support Sweden's candidacy.

“I would like to underline one reality. Turkey has been waiting at the EU’s front door for 50 years,” Erdogan said.

"Almost all the NATO members are EU members. I now am addressing these countries, which are making Turkey wait for more than 50 years, and I will address them again in Vilnius," Erdogan said moments before boarding his flight for the summit in the Lithuanian capital.

"First, open the way to Turkey's membership of the European Union, and then we will open it for Sweden, just as we had opened it for Finland."

Turkey first applied to be a member of the European Economic Community in the year 1987.

It then converted into an EU candidate country in the year 1999 and formally launched membership negotiations with the bloc in the year 2005.

The talks paused over human rights violation concerns from the European countries that surfaced amid a sweeping crackdown launched by Erdogan after surviving a failed 2016 military coup.

(With inputs from agencies)

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