Turkish opposition warns EU: Erdoğan’s policies hinder any strategic partnership | EURACTIV FR

BERLIN – As Germany and Turkey resume their strategic dialogue after a twelve-year hiatus, one of Turkey’s leading opposition figures warns that Ankara’s current political trajectory risks undermining any closer partnership with Europe.

“Turkey can be an important partner for Germany and the EU, but, given the current state structure, it is not yet a fully reliable strategic partner in the deep sense of the word,†Kaya Türkmen explained to Euractiv.

The former ambassador, who serves as shadow foreign minister in the main opposition CHP party, spoke as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Berlin for talks aimed at repairing relations between Ankara and Europe amid tensions growing geopolitics.

Germany has shown itself open to closer cooperation. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Berlin considered a strengthening of strategic relations between the EU and Turkey desirable.

“If Turkey wants to move closer to the EU, it will find a reliable partner in Germany. However, the Copenhagen criteria – democracy, rule of law and human rights – remain prerequisites for EU membership,” Wadephul insisted.

Necessity and strategy

For Berlin and Brussels, it is increasingly difficult to ignore the reasons for engaging with Ankara. Turkey remains a crucial NATO ally, a major regional power and a central player in the areas of migration, energy and security in the Black Sea.

Türkmen acknowledged these realities, saying Germany and the EU had “obvious reasons” to engage with Turkey because of the country’s economic, security and migration ties with Europe.

Turkey is also “an important interlocutor on issues ranging from the Black Sea and Ukraine to the Middle East, including energy, connectivity and regional stability,” he added.

Türkmen argued, however, that true strategic cooperation required more than common interests.

A strategic partnership is based on “predictability, institutional trust, respect for commitments, the rule of law, democratic legitimacy and broad alignment with the fundamental principles of foreign policy,” he stressed.

“This is where the current Turkish state seems to pose serious difficulties for Germany and the EU. HAS”

Democratic and geopolitical fault lines

The remarks underline the dilemma facing European governments as they seek to strengthen cooperation with Ankara as concerns over the decline of democracy in Turkey continue to intensify.

In March 2025, Ekrem Ä°mamoÄŸlu, the CHP’s main presidential candidate and mayor of Istanbul, was arrested. Prosecutors are seeking a cumulative prison sentence of 2,430 years for charges including “establishing a criminal organization.”

Türkmen nevertheless insisted that full membership in the EU remained an important long-term goal for Turkey.

“A more democratic, more respectful of the rule of law and more institutionally reliable Turkey would not only be a useful partner for Germany and the EU,” he said. “It could become one of Europe’s most important strategic partners. HAS”

Foreign policy tensions also continue to complicate relations.

While Fidan presented Turkey in Berlin as a defender of Palestinian rights in Gaza, Ankara’s close ties to Hamas – designated a terrorist organization by the EU – remain a source of friction with European governments.

“Turkey can and must defend Palestinian rights, but it should not adopt a line that seems more ambiguous “towards Hamas or further removed from the EU’s democratic and legal framework than the position taken by EU member states,†Türkmen said.

He also expressed concerns about the increasingly close relations between Ankara and Tehran.

“The Turkish government’s current position on Hamas and its balancing act vis-à-vis Iran often gives the impression that Ankara is politically closer to Tehran than to Europe, even if Turkey and Iran remain as much competitors as tactical partners,” he explained.

On the contrary, Ankara should conduct diplomacy with Iran “within the framework of a principled, institutional and Europe-oriented foreign policy,” Türkmen argued.

(mk, cs)