Turkey marks 66th anniversary of Europe Day

ANKARA

The European Union should "adopt a more resolute stance in the fight against terrorism", Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday on the occasion of Europe Day.

In a written statement, Erdogan said that Turkey has been celebrating May 9 as Europe Day since it has been a candidate for EU membership in 1999.

Ankara began substantial accession negotiations in October 2005.

“Europe Day is very meaningful for understanding Europe’s current situation and planning its future,” Erdogan said in the statement.

Erdogan said he hoped that Turkey’s EU accession process "be accelerated". He also emphasized that the EU should keep its promises regarding visa-free travel for Turkish citizens.

Last week, the European Commission proposed lifting visa requirements for Turkish citizens traveling to the EU’s Schengen zone.

However, among five remaining benchmarks for Turkey to address, the EU demanded a change in Ankara's legislation on terrorism in exchange for visa liberalization for Turkish citizens - a requirement Erdogan criticized.

"We will go our way; you go yours," he said in Istanbul last Friday.

Earlier on Monday, Turkey’s EU minister used the 66th anniversary of the pact which led to the creation of the EU to say Ankara was determined to promote relations with the continent.

In a statement to mark Europe Day, Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkir hailed the EU as “one of the most important peace projects, not just in our era but possibly in the history of humanity, which has united the divided European continent”.

Europe Day marks the 1950 Schumann Declaration which proposed a European Coal and Steel Community. France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg would come together to form the first postwar European economic union.

Bozkir said: “The European Union [...] has been a source of hope and inspiration not only for the peoples of Europe but also for the international society since the day of its foundation. Turkey is fully confident that its EU membership is a natural consequence of its geography and history.”

Turkey-EU relations, after years of deadlock following the opening of accession talks in 2005 have intensified in recent months with parties closely cooperating to stem the flow of refugees into the EU.

The visa liberalization scheme for Turkish citizens and the speeding up of Turkey’s EU accession negotiations are also part of the migration deal agreed upon in Nov. 2015 and finalized in March this year.