LISBON, Portugal
Turkey's EU minister Volkan Bozkir met Friday Portuguese Foreign Minister Rui Machete in Lisbon, seeking support for Turkey's accession to the EU.
"Turkey expects Portugal to create a butterfly effect in the EU to get accession negotiations back on track," Bozkir told the press with Portuguese Minister Machete.
Bozkir will pay a visit to Strasbourg and Brussels next week in an effort to set out a strategy to "accelerate" Turkey's EU membership.
Meanwhile, Machete expressed full support for Turkey's accession to the EU and said: "Turkey and the EU should better understand each other and they both need confidence building."
Negotiations for Turkey’s accession began in 2005 and Turkey must comply with 35 chapters setting out reforms needed to become a member. So far, only 14 have been opened while 17 remain blocked and a further four are yet to be discussed.
Turkey continues to pursue EU membership and aims to open negotiation chapters 23 and 24, on "judiciary and fundamental rights" and "justice, freedom and security" respectively.
www.aa.com.tr/en
