By Betul Yuruk
DAVOS, Switzerland
The European Union has to take its share of responsibility for opening chapters on Turkey's membership to the 28-nation bloc, Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir said Monday.
Turkey needs to conclude negotiations with the EU in 35 policy chapters that involve reforms and adoption of European standards to gain membership. So far, 14 chapters have been opened, while 17 remain blocked and another four have yet to be discussed.
"Opening chapters is no longer an important issue for us. Turkey is now in a position to open all chapters," Bozkır told The Anadolu Agency in Davos.
"The EU can put all the numbers of chapters into a bag, draw any of them out of the bag, whichever it is, we are ready to open that chapter within two months," he said.
He stressed that having opened only 14 chapters so far was EU's problem.
"We will be pleased if they open chapters, if not, we have been pursuing the accession process for eight years and Turkey has come a long way," Bozkir said. "I hope we close all chapters within two years."
Since the opening of formal accession talks in 2005, the process has been marred with ups and downs due in part to the ongoing dispute on the island of Cyprus and the division of the bloc over whether Turkey should join at all.
Turkey considers its accession to the EU a strategic objective and a means to modernize the country.
Turkey to accelerate EU move
Turkey announced a second phase of an “action plan” in early January to make headway on the path to the EU accession.
Turkish officials have already paid several visits to the EU countries to hold talks to accelerate the process.
A positive move came from the EU when European Council President Donald Tusk said that the EU supported opening of new chapters on Turkey’s accession.
"Chapter 17 on economic and monetary policy is likely to open this year unless there is any political blockade," Bozkir said.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also said during his visit in Brussels in mid-January that chapter 17 would be opened soon.
Turkey is also seeking to become a member of the Schengen area, a zone comprised of 26 European countries that allows citizens to cross shared borders without internal checks.
The EU launched a visa liberalization dialogue with Turkey on Dec. 16, 2013, setting out a list divided into five chapters of what Turkey must achieve to enable Turkish citizens to travel to EU without a visa.
The dialogue was initiated along with the signing of a readmission agreement that would allow migrants who entered Europe illegally via Turkey to go back to Turkey. The agreement will enter into effect on Dec. 16, 2016.
Bozkır said that the EU's annual progress report that came one year after the agreement was "positive."
Two more progress reports will be released until the EU Commission decided on lifting visa requirements for Turkish citizens traveling to Europe.
"Unless visa requirement is lifted, Turkey has the right to terminate the readmission agreement within six months," he added.
