Turkish top diplomat marks Europe Day

ANKARA

Turkey is open to sincere and meaningful cooperation with the EU for a common future, Turkey's foreign minister said on Saturday to commemorate Europe Day.

Europe Day, also known as the Schuman Day, is observed on May 9 each year to mark the Schuman Declaration in 1950 that proposed the formation of a European Coal and Steel Community, the predecessor to the EU.

In a statement, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey, a candidate country for EU membership, was ready to offer all kinds of support for the bloc to be a responsible, consistent and principled global actor.

Underlining the necessity of EU reform, Cavusoglu said that Turkish membership in the union would make Brussels stronger in the struggle against the novel coronavirus, as well as in all issues.

He said that intensifying geopolitical competition, threats to multilateralism and regional conflicts were "testing" the world, with the bloc in need of strengthening itself with new alliances and improving cooperation and solidarity with its existing allies to tackle these challenges.

Cavusoglu stressed that the need of member states and the international community for a strong and inclusive EU would increase.

Turkey's attitude during the coronavirus crisis showed that Ankara is ready to cooperate, he added.

He also emphasized that increasing cooperation in all fields would not only be important for the EU but also for the region and the future of the international system.

Turkey applied for the EU membership in 1987 and accession talks began in 2005.

But negotiations stalled in 2007 due to objections of the Greek Cypriot administration on the divided island of Cyprus as well as opposition from Germany and France.