By Nazli Yuzbasioglu
ANKARA (AA) – Malta has called on Turkey and the EU to improve dialogue and cooperation after relations soured when the bloc requested Turkey to change its terrorism laws in exchange for visa-free travel for Turks.
“Countries such as Turkey are facing serious threats,” Maltese Foreign Minister George Vella said during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara on Thursday.
Vella said he had a “good understanding” of what Turkey, which is currently fighting both the PKK and Daesh terrorist groups, is going through.
“In this sense, we need more dialogue, more cooperation and better explanations,” Vella said.
Turkey and the EU reached a landmark agreement in March, under which the country would take back refugees in Europe in exchange for the EU providing 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) in aid to millions of refugees hosted in Turkey, speeding up the EU candidate country’s accession talks, and introducing visa-free travel for Turkish nationals.
According to the 28-nation bloc’s executive body, the European Commission, Turkey has five remaining benchmarks, out of an initial 72, to fulfill in order for nearly 80 million Turkish citizens to receive visa-free travel in the Schengen borderless zone.
The five remaining benchmarks touch on issues including: anti-corruption measures; data protection in line with EU standards; cooperation with the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol; judicial cooperation on criminal matters with all EU member states; and “revising the legislation and practices on terrorism in line with European standards”.
Turkey has firmly rejected changes to its terrorism laws, as the country is fighting against attacks from terrorist organizations such as the PKK, Daesh, and the DHKP-C.
Vella said the EU is also concerned over a rise in terror threats, adding that Turkey is among the founding countries of the Global Counterterrorism Forum, which works closely with the United Nations in order to prevent terrorism.
“We speak the same language; we have to make each other understand and we have to convince each other,” Vella said.
As part of Turkey’s bid to join the EU, negotiations over policy area on financial and budgetary provisions will be opened on June 30 with the participation of First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmerman and Turkey’s EU Minister Omer Celik.
“We strongly believe that the process should go on, and we should do all we can to try to see things should move forward,” Vella said.
*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Fatjon Prroni in Ankara contributed to this report.
