After a five-year hiatus, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will start a visit to Brussels on Jan. 21 upon the invitation of European Council President Herman van Rompuy in an attempt to boost Turkey’s European Union application. The visit has been scheduled to keep the momentum going after the EU’s General Affairs Council agreed in October — after a three-year freeze — to open a new chapter in the accession process, and after the sides agreed in December on the principles of a visa liberalization timeline. This occurred before Turkey's graft probe became public on Dec. 17.
Since the corruption scandal broke into the open, Erdogan has hit back sharply by removing and reassigning about 2,000 police officers and a dozen prosecutors who were directly or indirectly involved in the probe. Erdogan has also attempted to make changes in the constitution, thus creating an image problem — both domestically and internationally — that the government is trying to cover up corruption and bribery. In October, the EU's Turkey progress report had drawn attention to the country's deteriorating human rights record, particularly concerning Erdogan’s response to the May-June Gezi Park protests. The report stated that Erdogan’s method of governance poses a problem as it has increased the country's polarization instead of being constructive.
