Turkey will not seek to join the European Union - Erdogan
Turkey became a candidate for EU membership in 1999, and accession negotiations have been ongoing since 2005.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey is not seeking to join the European Union.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, Erdogan said: "It seems that Europe does not want Turkey to join the European Union."
He believes that Turkey's failure to join the EU would be a greater loss for Brussels than for Ankara.
Turkey became a candidate for EU membership in 1999, and accession negotiations have been ongoing since 2005.
In July 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the suspension of accession talks with Turkey until it guarantees freedom of expression and an independent judiciary. Ankara described the resolution as "illegal interference in internal affairs."