With Turkey as a member, the European Union would become "the most important peace project in world history," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed during an official visit to France yesterday (7 April). EurActiv France and EurActiv Turkey report.

France 'obsessed by Turkey' As EurActiv France pointed out on its blog, in Paris the enlargement debate inevitably focuses on Turkey's accession bid, no matter which experts are invited to events and irrespective of the agenda tabled for discussion. Lessons learned from recent EU enlargements and ideas for the future of an even wider Europe shaped recent EurActiv roundtable discus...

Tensions between Turkey and Israel escalated yesterday (5 July), as Ankara warned it would cut ties with the Jewish state unless it apologises for a deadly attack on a humanitarian flotilla on its way to Gaza or accepts an international inquiry into the incident. EurActiv Turkey contributed to this report.

The European Union should not narrow the scope of its foreign policy cooperation with Turkey and Ukraine at a time when those countries have shown a will to conduct foreign policies that are not necessarily in line with those of the EU, Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Štefan Füle told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Ankara is aware that a deep financial crisis in Greece would make the European Union wary of further enlargement. Turks are thus refraining from gloating about the problems facing their EU neighbour, which is traditionally seen as an historical foe. EurActiv Turkey reports.

Or Better Titled an Idiot at the Helm Associated Press Writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed to this report ANKARA, Turkey &# Turkey was holding a suspicious shipment bound for Venezuela from Iran because it contained lab equipment capable of producing explosives, a customs official said Tuesday. Suleyman Tosun, a customs official at the Mediterranean port of Mersin, said military experts were...

A series of revelations exposing the murders of nine immigrants of Turkish and Greek descent carried out between 2000 and 2006 has shocked Germany and galvanised a wave of resentment across Turkey. EurActiv Turkey and EurActiv Germany contributed to this article.  More »

Turkey must overcome internal divisions and get back to long-delayed reforms early next year to show it is serious about wanting to join the European Union.

"The fact that Turkey lags so far behind when it comes to the fight against bribery and corruption seriously lowers Turkey's status before the EU," argues Zeynep Gögus, the president of Brussels-based NGO TR Plus Centre for Turkey in Europe and EurActiv Turkey's publisher, in an interview with Today's Zaman, a Turkey-based English daily.

As it continues to enlarge, the European Union needs to review its current vote weighting and abandon the veto system, Erhard Busek, special enlargement advisor to the Czech EU Presidency, told EurActiv in an interview.