Erdogan: Europe Will Ultimately Be the “Loser” if Turkey Is Kept Out of the EU
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the European Union of showing little willingness to accept Turkey as a full member, warning that Europe itself could ultimately be the “loser” if Ankara remains excluded from the bloc.
In an interview, Erdogan said the EU does not appear ready to allow Turkey to join the European Union, despite Ankara’s long-standing candidacy and decades of engagement with the bloc.
«“Europe will be the loser in the end,” Erdogan said, arguing that Turkey’s strategic importance and growing influence make its exclusion from the European project costly for Europe itself.»
At the same time, Erdogan stressed that Turkey has not completely closed the door on EU membership. Ankara, he indicated, remains open to the possibility of renewed progress toward membership if the European Union demonstrates a genuine willingness to advance the accession process.
Turkey has been an EU candidate country since 1999, while formal accession negotiations began in 2005. However, the process has made little substantial progress over the years, with numerous negotiating chapters remaining blocked or stalled.
Relations between Ankara and Brussels have also been complicated by disagreements over democratic standards, human rights, migration, Cyprus, foreign policy and Turkey’s relationship with other major powers.
Despite the prolonged deadlock, Turkey remains strategically important to Europe. It is a NATO member, controls access to the Black Sea through the Turkish Straits, plays a major role in regional security and migration, and has significant economic and diplomatic links with European countries.
Erdogan’s latest remarks therefore signal that while Ankara continues to criticize the EU’s approach, Turkey is not formally abandoning its decades-old membership objective.
The statement also highlights the growing gap between Turkey’s ambitions and the EU’s current position: Ankara continues to present membership as a strategic opportunity for Europe, while Brussels has yet to demonstrate a clear path toward full accession.
For now, Turkey’s EU membership bid remains alive but largely frozen, with Ankara warning that Europe could ultimately pay a strategic price for keeping the door closed.