Turkey's EU membership is a strategic goal, EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkır said on Tuesday.
Bozkır spoke to Anadolu Agency after holding a meeting with EU officials for the first time since the June 7 parliamentary elections in Turkey.
"Whichever political party forms a government, Turkey's EU membership remains a strategic goal," Bozkır said, adding that all parties would have to act together in the accession process. The latest general election has failed to provide a clear majority in Parliament with the four parties having yet to begin coalition negotiations. He also met with EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn and European Parliament rapporteur for Turkey Kati Piri to speak about Turkey's 2014 progress report on EU membership, which was rejected by Turkey last month. The report covered the status of reforms Turkey has made to comply with EU regulations.
Three specific points made the government reject the report, namely the terming of the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 as genocide, the call to declassify the PKK as a terrorist group and a suggestion to end the EU's economic contributions to Turkey.
