LONDON

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met Thursday with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan during the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The two top diplomats engaged in discussions on the future of EU-Türkiye relations, which have been a topic of keen interest and debate in recent times.

In a post on the social media platform X, Borrell shared insights into their meeting, emphasizing the significance of their conversation.

"Opportunity to exchange with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan at the UN today. We spoke about next steps in EU-Türkiye relations ahead of the report I will present with EU Commission to the European Council. We also discussed the highly concerning situation in Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.

Opportunity to exchange with Foreign Minister @HakanFidan at the @UN today.

We spoke about next steps in EU-Turkey relations, ahead of the report I will present with @EU_Commission to the European Council. We also discussed the highly concerning situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. pic.twitter.com/NTdkATWaf3

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) September 21, 2023

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said that Türkiye expects the EU to fulfill “its long-neglected obligations towards our country.”

“The increasingly complex nature of regional and global challenges indicates that there is a need, now more than ever, to advance Turkish-European Union relations on a healthy basis,” he said.

“We expect the European Union to swiftly start fulfilling its long-neglected obligations towards our country,” the president said at the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

“Especially, the ambivalent attitudes towards Türkiye have to come to an end,” he added.

Türkiye applied for EU membership in 1987 and has been a candidate country since 1999.

Negotiations for full membership started in October 2005 but have stalled in recent years due to political hurdles erected by some countries.