European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Aug. 29 said Turkey was fully to blame for the breakdown of its EU accession talks and warned Ankara was fast withdrawing from Europe. Hurriyet reports.
“Turkey is withdrawing from Europe by giant steps,” Juncker told an annual conference of EU ambassadors in Brussels, saying it was up to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to officially call an end Turkey’s efforts to join the EU.
Juncker said he suspected that Erdoğan was hoping that Europe would be the one to break off the talks “in order to blame the European Union” for their failure.
But the bloc must avoid “falling into the trap” as the “responsibility is entirely on the Turkish side,” he said.
“The question is to know if we must put an end to the negotiations — which is a purely theoretical question as there are no negotiations,” Juncker said.
