Öykü Altuntaş - Yaşar Kaçmaz / Istanbul, Nov 13 () – The “bargain” with the European Union had influences on Turkey’s controversial EU progress report, as Europe has been struggling to redress a balance of values and opportunities regarding its need for controlling the migrant flow and its critical approach to political measures in Turkey, said Economic Development Foundation (IKV) Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu.
The enkindled Turkey- EU relations has marked the agenda over “refugee action plan” talks, as the EU has demanded a close cooperation, struggling to control the migrant flow reaching 710 thousand people in the first nine months of 2015. However, the agreement has not been settled so far.
Ayhan Zeytioğlu pointed to two main factors, with respect to the migrant crisis:
“The EU’s need of Turkey to tackle the migrant flow, thus an interest-based approach, and its critical position against a backslide in Turkey’s political criteria regarding the accession period to the EU, in other words a value-based approach”
Turkey should keep efforts to open new headlines in the agenda of membership talks, not as a “hush money” but rather as its right, regarding its status as a “candidate country”, urged Zeytinoğlu, having added Turkey should prompt the EU to evaluate Turkey’s progress in a just and fair manner.
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