Federica Mogherini says Turkey still EU candidate country

EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said Turkey was still a candidate for European Union membership and as such accession negotiations would continue.

Her comments came a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Social Democrat (SPD) rival Martin Schulz both said in a TV debate that Turkey had no place in Europe, drawing charges of populism from Ankara.

“We have lived (through) a couple of difficult years. On the future, I would suggest that we look beyond what is said in the electoral campaigns, both in Turkey and in the European Union,” Mogherini said on Monday (September 4).

Mogherini added she is looking forward to the moment when senior officials from EU and Turkey can sit together at the table and define what is going to be the future of their relations.

Speaking at the same regional forum as Mogherini in Slovenia's lake resort at Bled, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said EU membership "is still a strategic goal for Turkey". He said Ankara was ready for further talks, but the process faced political obstacles.

The green light for membership talks was given months before Merkel became chancellor in 2005 and she had previously always said that she would respect that decision. Her comments in Sunday's (September 3) debate inflamed ties with Ankara already strained by President Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on opponents following a failed coup in July last year, NRT/Reuters reports.