Turkey's deputy foreign minister who oversees European Union relations met with the bloc’s commissioner for enlargement Thursday to discuss bilateral ties, amid discussions on visa liberalization.
"We discussed the necessity and basic elements of advancing Turkey-European Union relations in line with the positive agenda," Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakçı, who is in charge of EU affairs, tweeted of his meeting with European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi in Brussels, the bloc's de facto capital.
Kaymakçı also attached images of the meeting.
Varhelyi also tweeted that he welcomed Kaymakçı at the European Commission to "discuss the outlook for EU-Turkey bilateral relations."
Kaymakçı also had a meeting with Pedro Serrano, Cabinet chief of the bloc's high representative for foreign affairs and security, Josep Borrell, on Friday.
Kaymakçı shared a photo of this meeting as well, saying that Turkey’s inclusion in the EU would contribute immensely to the bloc in the geopolitical sense, and called for more engagement between the two sides.
The deputy foreign minister also met with Fernando Andresen, diplomatic adviser to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“Turkey's EU accession process is a win-win-win case,” Kaymakçı said in a tweet.
The head of the EU delegation to Turkey, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, said Monday that there are six remaining criteria Turkey needs to fulfill for visa liberalization.
Speaking to BBC Turkish, Meyer-Landrut said: "There are six criteria remaining regarding the visa liberalization road map. When we look at all these, these are also very important criteria: For example, there are criteria related to the definition of terrorism, there are criteria related to the protection of personal data."
He noted that Ylva Johansson, the European commissioner for home affairs, also stated that the EU was ready to continue discussions on this issue while she was visiting the country.
In March 2016, Ankara and Brussels signed an agreement to reduce the number of migrants taking the dangerous Aegean Sea route to Europe and to find a solution for the influx of migrants heading to EU countries.
Turkey has the longest history with the union and the longest negotiation process. The country signed an association agreement with the EU's predecessor in 1964, the European Economic Community (EEC), which is usually regarded as a first step to eventually becoming a candidate. Applying for official candidacy in 1987, Turkey had to wait until 1999 to be granted the status of a candidate country. For the start of the negotiations, however, Turkey had to wait for another six years, until 2005, a uniquely long process compared with other candidates.
