PM Erdogan: Turkey should join EU by 2023 otherwise EU will lose Turkey.

By bne IntelliNews October 31, 2012
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday at a conference in Berlin that Turkey should join the EU by 2023 but if the EU would string along the country until then it would lose Turkey. Turkeys accession talks with the EU started in 2005 and since then 13 chapters out of a total 35 have been opened and one provisionally closed. Earlier this month the EU released its regular progress report on Turkey where it said concerns were growing regarding Turkeys lack of substantial progress towards fully meeting the political criteria and the situation regarding fundamental rights on the ground remains a serious concern. Full implementation of the obligations under the Customs Union and progress towards normalisation of relations with Cyprus are urgent and could provide new momentum to accession negotiations, the EU said.

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