Turkey Slams the EU's Review of its Membership Bid
The Facts
In response to the EU's annual report on Turkey's bid to join the bloc, in which it accused Ankara of "serious backsliding" on democratic standards, the rule of law, human rights, and judicial independence, Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the assessment unjust and biased.
Turkey, whose membership bid has been frozen for years since talks began in 2005, further argued that the assessment highlighted "the insincerity of EU's approach and a clear double-standard." It added that the fundamental rights issues were contentious even among EU member states.
The Spin
Narrative A
Austria and Turkey have actually been strengthening diplomatic ties, as shown by Austrian Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer's visit to Ankara last month — the first state visit from a chancellor in 22 years. If Turkey's main accession opponent was willing to do this, imagine what its view on EU membership could be a year from now. Not only would Turkey's EU membership help grow European economic prosperity, but Austria could use this moment to become a historic diplomatic leader on the global stage.
Narrative B
Turkey simply has too many red flags to consider incorporating it into the EU. It refuses to recognize Cyprus as part of Greece, it's located far from Europe and amongst countries with regional instability, and its economy is riddled with low wages and high inflation. The EU has a duty to protect its economic, geographical, and security interests. That said, there's no reason why diplomatic ties between Ankara and the EU can't deepen outside of the accession process and strong relations can be built outside of this framework.