Thewesternbalkans.
According to different media, there is a news, which can have historical and fundamental meaning for the Europe’s political and economic architecture. It can be crucial for the Western Balkan countries too.
The president of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that joining the European Union is not a priority for his country.
According to the Turkish leader, European countries are not showing readiness to integrate the republic.
“Membership in the European Union is not a priority task for Ankara, and Europe itself will lose if it refuses to accept the republic into the community”, stated Turkish President in an interview with the Qatari TV channel Al Jazeera.
“Europe will lose out from Türkiye not joining the community,” aided the Turkish leader.
According to him, European countries are not showing readiness to integrate the republic. “Europe, apparently, does not want to include Türkiye in the European Union,” Erdogan added.
Comments: This development can be very important for the Western Balkans EU integration. First – there will be more financial and administrative resources for the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans. Second – bearing in mind the influence of Ankara to some countries in the region, especially the Albanian and Bosnyak factors, it will be very interesting to follow next developments.
Türkiye and the EU have a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement and also an agreement for Customs Union.
Türkiye officially applied to join the European Union in 1987, and accession negotiations began in 2005. Subsequently, the process was effectively frozen due to political disagreements on a number of issues, including Cyprus one.
In 2024, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that Ankara does not intend to wait for a decision from Brussels and will consider other “historic paths.”
In May 2025, Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party, the largest political group in the European Parliament, declared that neither Brussels nor Ankara are interested in Turkey’s accession to the EU and called for the negotiations to be halted.
Later, Erdogan indicated that he does not expect any moves from Brussels, accusing the EU of biased treatment towards Türkiye. According to him, Ankara has fulfilled all its obligations to the EU, while the EU has not met its own commitments.
According to remarks of Turkish President released on May 17 2026 “Türkiye is a great opportunity for the European Union and the Union is in a position to make a historic decision on evaluating this opportunity,” Erdoğan said, “Europe has arrived at a crossroads and must assess the situation much more carefully.” But in Brussels they did not.
It is the right moment to say that the European integration was a part of natioanal strategy of Ankara for modernisation of the country. Now it is clear that Türkiye has made a lot for implementation of its modernisation strategy and will be looking for other formats for its development. For example, the deal, known as the Mecca Pact between Pakistan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.
