EU welcomes Turkey’s reform agenda

KAYSERI, Turkey

The European Union welcomes the Turkish government’s recently announced reform agenda, a senior diplomat said Thursday while visiting Turkey’s central province of Kayseri.

Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, met with prominent local figures including Omer Gulusoy, chairman of the Kayseri Chamber of Commerce, Ihsan Sabuncuoglu, president of Abdullah Gul University, and Ismail Emrah Karayel, a deputy lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.

“We received this well. We wish to see concrete steps in a direction which will lead to the opening of a window of opportunity in EU-Turkish relations,” said Meyer-Landrut, referring to the Turkish government’s latest push for reforms expressed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“The reform package includes very essential issues such as economic reforms, judicial reforms and an EU action plan. This is important not only for the country [Turkey] but also for Turkish-EU relations. As such, we will closely follow the developments.”

Meyer-Landrut also underlined the importance of confidence-building and focusing on positive steps in Turkish-EU relations.

Thanking him for his visit, Gulusoy said the futures of Turkey and the EU are intertwined.

Erdogan said Monday that if the AK Party reaches a consensus with its partner in the People's Alliance, then an "action for drafting a new constitution in the upcoming period" was possible.

On Tuesday, Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said Turkey is "obligated" to replace its current constitution. He said the country's constitution in its present form was the "product of extraordinary conditions."

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk