2023-07-24 18:04:00
Two weeks ago, during the NATO summit in Vilnius, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the EU to resume accession talks with Turkey.
Now the Turkish ambassador in Austria, Ozan Ceyhun, is also taking up this topic in an interview with the Austria Press Agency. Turkey hopes that corresponding negotiations with the EU will take place as soon as possible. And Ceyhun also confirms the goal: “Sure, Turkey intends to be a member of the European Union one day.”
The resumption of accession talks should also not be a problem for countries like Austria, which reject Turkey’s EU membership, according to Ceyhun. “Negotiations – that doesn’t mean that we’ll be members tomorrow. But during the negotiations you can also talk regarding problems and find solutions,” argued the Turkish ambassador in Vienna.
At the same time, Ceyhun emphasized that the European Union would have to deal with Turkey “quite differently than it does today”. In this regard, he referred to his country’s role as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine, in the refugee issue or as an energy supplier. Ceyhun also took the opportunity to highlight Turkey’s role in continuing the grain deal recently suspended by Russia. Accordingly, he must state in the direction of the EU “that it might be very valuable in the newly emerging world order to also have Turkey with us”.
“Friendly States”
Ceyhun rated the bilateral relations between Turkey and Austria very positively: “We are two friendly countries, and that will always be the case.” From the highest level of government down, “there is a very good dialogue from both sides,” emphasized the diplomat.
When asked regarding the controversial riots in Vienna-Favoriten on the evening of the Turkish presidential election, Ceyhun expressed understanding that “some people didn’t think it was good.” “We should talk regarding it, and I offer my cooperation for that.”
To person
Ozan Ceyhun has been the Turkish Ambassador to Austria since February 2020. Ceyhun, born in 1960, grew up in Istanbul. After the military coup in 1980, he emigrated first to Austria and then to Germany. In Germany he worked for the Greens, but switched to the SPD in 2000, for which he was also a member of the European Parliament. Ceyhun is a Turkish-German dual citizen.
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