Erdoğan calls on EU to decide on fate of accession talks

The EU is the one to decide whether to part ways with Turkey in accession talks, President Erdoğan said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York, Erdoğan said the EU is trying to force Turkey to withdraw from the accession talks, but, the EU should be the one to decide the future of the talks.

"They are the ultimate decision maker. In fact, Turkey isn't crazy about the negotiations. Turkey has been waiting for 54 years at the door of the EU," he said.

The association agreement between the EU and Turkey began in 1963 when Turkey and the European Economic Community (EEC) signed the Ankara Agreement, also known as the Agreement Creating an Association. It is an agreement aimed at Turkey's accession to the EEC and later paved the way for accession talks with the EU.

Ankara applied for EEC membership in 1987 and accession talks began in 2005. However, negotiations hit a stalemate in 2007 because of disagreements on the Cyprus issue. The German and French governments have been opposed to the country's full EU membership.

Only 16 policy chapters have been opened out of a total of 35 since negotiations began 54 years ago. The latest, Chapter 33 on financial and budgetary provisions, was opened in recent accession talks.