Türkiye calls EU accession impossible under the current political stance

Türkiye’s accession to the European Union will remain out of reach unless the bloc undergoes a fundamental shift in its political mindset, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday, accusing Brussels of excluding Türkiye on the basis of identity, religion, and civilisation.

Speaking in an interview with Sky News Arabia, Fidan argued that despite unprecedented levels of shared interests between Türkiye and the EU, a deeper and more entrenched barrier continues to block progress.

“As long as the European Union maintains its current political stance toward Türkiye, I do not believe Türkiye will become an EU member,” Fidan said, emphasising that the stalemate stems from perception and ideology rather than policy disagreements.

Identity-driven politics block Türkiye’s path to membership

Fidan contended that the EU’s stance toward Türkiye is driven by what he described as an “identity politics mentality,” which, in his view, renders accession impossible regardless of compliance with formal membership benchmarks. Although Türkiye has been an official EU candidate for more than twenty years, negotiations have repeatedly stalled amid concerns over human rights, governance standards, and regional geopolitical disputes.

According to the foreign minister, the deadlock reflects a broader political and cultural impasse, with the EU assessing Türkiye through a framework that he said is fundamentally incompatible with true integration.

EU integration stops short of civilisational inclusion

Offering a broader critique of the European project, Fidan acknowledged the EU’s success in establishing a supranational system that goes beyond the authority of individual nation-states. However, he argued that this achievement stopped short of embracing genuine civilisational diversity.

“The EU managed to become a supranational institution, but it could not become a supra-civilizational institution,” Fidan said, asserting that Türkiye’s exclusion is rooted in perceptions of religious and civilisational difference.

He framed the issue as one of identity rather than unmet technical criteria, suggesting that cultural boundaries, not policy shortcomings, lie at the heart of Türkiye’s stalled membership bid.

Global order depends on civilisational inclusivity

In closing, Fidan linked Türkiye’s EU accession impasse to wider global challenges, arguing that the world’s most pressing problems cannot be addressed through exclusionary approaches. Instead, he called for inclusive models of cooperation that bring different civilisations together.

He suggested that humanity’s future depends on the ability of diverse civilisations to coexist under a shared framework, an implicit critique of the EU’s failure, in his view, to live up to that ideal in its relationship with Türkiye.