Erdogan said it was time to act on Turkey’s long-stalled bid to join the EU. “Turkey has been waiting at the gate of the European Union for over 50 years now,” he said, and “almost all NATO member countries are European member countries.”
He got something of significance, but Turkey is probably further from gaining EU membership today than it was when it applied in 2005. The EU could unfreeze Turkey’s candidacy status, but the underlying issues that caused the freeze are unsolved. I guess Erdogan could still spin that as a diplomatic win at home, giving Turks false hope that they will finally be “part of Europe”.
“Erdogan said it was time to act on Turkey’s long-stalled bid to join the EU. ‘Turkey has been waiting at the gate of the European Union for over 50 years now,’ he said, and ‘almost all NATO member countries are European member countries.’”
Erdogan has his facts wrong: The EU wasn’t even founded until 1993, just thirty years ago.