Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) defended his recent visit to Ankara in the ORF “Report” yesterday evening, together with Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP). Turkey has “taken a step towards us, because we have never blocked the excavations in Ephesus” or cooperation with the NATO partnership, which came from Ankara. Nevertheless, he is still in favor of breaking off the EU accession negotiations with Turkey, said the Foreign Minister.
Foreign Minister Schallenberg on Turkey
Because of the war in Ukraine, Turkey is gaining geopolitical importance for Austria and Europe. But how close can you get to the autocrat Erdoğan? And what should Europe pay attention to after past experiences with Vladimir Putin? Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) is a guest in the “Report”.
Turkey is in a difficult economic situation, but has changed its policy towards many countries in recent months, such as towards Israel and Armenia. “By the way, I very much welcome the fact that the talks between Turkey and Armenia are taking place in Vienna,” said Schallenberg.
Important player in many ways
However, Turkey is a regional power factor and also plays an important role as a mediator in the Ukraine war. “We support them both in these mediation efforts, the so-called Istanbul Process. This is, if you will, the last line of dialogue that still exists between Russia and Ukraine, but also in the attempt to get “the millions of tons of grain” out of Ukraine in order to avoid a global food crisis.
According to Schallenberg, it is important to hold talks with Turkey, especially in the area of migration, because it is important “to prevent by all means” that the migration movement of 2015 repeats itself. Turkey has since received ten billion euros from the EU, but has also tried to use migrants to put pressure on Europe, but the borders in Greece and Bulgaria have held. In the meantime, there is also a very strong interest in Ankara that “no slope is slipping” in this regard.