Is ice finally thawing between EU, Turkey?
Ending 2017 on a comparatively higher note, recent conversations and visits between officials from European countries and Turkey could help nudge both sides to better relations in 2018.
Turkey and key European Union members like Germany and the Netherlands have started to exchange positive messages, signaling a desire to leave behind what was possibly the worst year in Turkish-European ties in recent memory. Reconciliatory statements are being backed by high-level phone conversations and visits aimed at increasing cooperation on issues of mutual interest.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be in Paris this week for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, with terrorism, the migration crisis, Syria and the status of Jerusalem high on the agenda.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the other hand, is due in Germany over the weekend for talks with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel aimed at normalizing bilateral ties, which were near a breaking point in 2017.
Serious problems that have undermined Turkish-European ties, however, remain in place, indicating that the road ahead is still bumpy and beset by pitfalls that could result in new upheavals.
