TURKEY EU RELATIONS BEFORE THE MARCH SUMMIT THE WAY FORWARD

With its flexible alliance with Russia and the help of the leader-to-leader relations between Trump and Erdoğan, Ankara benefited from the almost absence of the US and the EU in its wider region and concomitantly exerted its influence in the MENA region, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Caucasus. [...] What needs to be done? The grim circumstances on the domestic front do not change the fact that there is still an urgent need to revitalise Turkey-EU relations in anticipation of the post-covid-19 era and the twin challenges of the EU internal market: the Green Deal and the digital agenda. [...] The EU should indeed encourage the EU perspective of Turkey and its commitment to further dialogue and engagement in the form of the positive agenda, the content of which can be further refined and elaborated. [...] The constituents of the positive agenda framework is expected to be similar to the components of the positive agenda proposed to Turkey in the October EU summit, provided that the moratorium and hence the stability in Eastern Mediterranean and the dialogue between Greece and Turkey continues. [...] One of the main reasons behind the proposal for a two-state solution by Turkey (and the Turkish Cypriots) is the intransigence of the Greek Cypriots to recognise the political equality of the Turkish Cypriots.