Turkish FM to take part in informal meeting of EU counterparts

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will visit Poland's capital Warsaw on Thursday to participate in an informal meeting of his EU counterparts, also called Gymnich, at the bloc's invitation.

According to Foreign Ministry sources, during the event, Fidan will meet with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, along with the foreign ministers of EU member states, candidate, and potential candidate countries. Last August Fidan also took part in a Gymnich meeting, the first time the EU invited Türkiye in five years, seen as part of the bloc's efforts to revitalize relations with Türkiye.

The meeting is considered important for strengthening dialogue channels between Türkiye and the EU and for taking concrete steps in bilateral relations, including Türkiye's EU accession process. The meeting is expected to see exchanges of views on the current challenges to European foreign and security policy, particularly on boosting resilience in the face of hybrid threats.

At the meeting, Fidan is expected to stress that strategic cooperation between NATO and the EU is essential for Europe's security and that Türkiye and the EU should improve information sharing by increasing coordination and cooperation against hybrid threats.

He is also expected to underline that terrorism threatens international security by triggering hybrid threats, that Türkiye's efforts to combat terrorism also protect the stability of the shared region, that Türkiye expects concrete and meaningful support from its allies and partners on this, and that EU initiatives to improve Europe's defense industry capacity must involve non-EU partners like Türkiye, which has a strong defense industry and military experience.

Türkiye's expectation that the EU should take concrete steps to sustainably and predictably strengthen Türkiye-EU ties will also be conveyed at the meeting. It will be emphasized that the continuation of structural dialogue mechanisms and modernizing the Customs Union and trade relations to meet current needs plus addressing visa issues are among the priorities.

Fidan will also hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the meeting.

Türkiye applied for EU membership in 1987 and has been a candidate country since 1999. Membership negotiations started in 2005 but entered a stalemate after 2007 due to the Cyprus problem and opposition by several member states.