Before the European Council's leaders' summit two months ago, experts and journalists in Turkey discussed the European Union's possible sanctions. The frozen EU agenda came into the Turkish public's focus with the sanctions threat. Both sides knew that sanctions were illogical and would not contribute to bilateral relations.

Despite the dysfunctionality of the sanctions, Greece, the Greek Cypriot administration, France and Austria insisted on sanctions against Turkey. Punishing Ankara would only satisfy the Greek and Greek Cypriot administrations and make them temporary heroes in their local political contexts. Indeed, they pushed their agenda with French President Emmanuel Macron's support. The mild but unfair sanctions placed on Turkey after the summit both disappointed Greek politicians and frustrated Ankara.

Turkey then decided to take bolder steps to normalize its relations with EU institutions. Stimulating the EU agenda and taking concrete steps toward the normalization of Turkey-EU relations became the priority of Ankara's 2021 foreign policy plans.

Over the last several weeks, Ankara put out amicable signs to its counterparts in Brussels and the capitals of the other EU member countries. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Erdoğan's top advisers consistently sent positive messages to Brussels. They also publicized Ankara's strategic priority of achieving Turkey's full EU membership.

After several years of inactivity, Ankara's renewed interest in EU integration surprised both the EU and the Turkish people. The Turkish public and European officials are still trying to understand whether Ankara is sincere but their follow-up on critical issues is demonstrating that they are.

Both Ankara and Brussels will need concrete steps to overcome the problem of mistrust. There will not be a significant breakthrough in Turkey-EU relations in the near future despite both sides' conciliatory gestures. The cooperation will improve gradually by joint constructive efforts and small confidence-building steps.

Each side will make a gradual assessment of the accomplishments and decide to take more significant moves.

Ankara has a list of expectations that includes: