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EU-Turkey: Ministerial dialogue in Brussels

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0,,17376474_303,00EU High Representative/Commission Vice President Catherine Ashton and Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Štefan Füle met with Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu for political dialogue on 10 February in Brussels.

After extensive and productive discussions, Commissioner Füle said:"Progress was indeed achieved last year in Turkey. The 4th judicial reform package and the democratization package were adopted. The regional policy chapter was opened; talks on visa liberalization started and the re-admission agreement was signed. All this gave fresh momentum to our co-operation and proved a strong desire of both sides to advance further.

"Today, we have discussed the recent developments in Turkey. We have underlined the need for Turkey as a candidate country in accession negotiations to engage in early consultations with the Commission on all laws related to both the accession process and the political criteria.

"We discussed this in particular in the light of the recent exchanges on the importance of an independent judiciary and the internet law adopted by the parliament last week. It is the Commission's duty to monitor the developments and express concerns when these are justified and to also offer help and support to ensure compatibility with the acquis and EU best practice.

"In this context, with regard to the internet law, the Commission agreed to share in writing a number of the concerns identified, regarding both compatibility with the acquis and EU best practices.

"We also agreed how important a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus issue is for all our interests. I expressed how much we appreciate Turkey's support in the recent weeks to help re-launch talks between the two sides, which we hope will begin again very soon now."

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