EU Delegation's Ankara Visit Skips Rights Agenda, Focuses on Security and Trade, Veteran Columnist Notes
A European Union delegation is set to arrive in Ankara on June 30, just ahead of next week's NATO Summit, with an agenda that prioritizes security, migration and commercial interests over Turkey's human rights record, according to prominent Turkish columnist Murat Yetkin, writing in his column published June 29.
Yetkin, a veteran political analyst, reported that the delegation will be led by EU Commission Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, accompanied by Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos and Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner. On the Turkish side, the visitors are expected to meet Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, and Trade Minister Ömer Bolat.
According to the columnist, the composition of both delegations signals where Brussels' real priorities lie: military and diplomatic cooperation, infrastructure tenders and expanding trade feature prominently, while the state of political and economic democracy and civil liberties in Turkey are conspicuously absent from the agenda.
Yetkin predicted that EU officials would nonetheless voice the customary expressions of "concern" at a press conference, allowing commentators still hopeful of tangible outcomes to generate headlines, even though no concrete follow-through is likely. He pointed to the European Parliament's recent report on Turkey, which characterized prosecutions including the case against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as politically motivated and called for sanctions against Justice Minister Yılmaz Akın Gürlek. Yetkin argued there is little indication that this report will be taken seriously by either the European Commission or the European Council, suggesting that any reference to it during the visit would mainly serve to reassure rights-conscious constituencies in Europe that "something was done," or to be used as leverage in negotiations with Ankara.
The columnist described European capitals as allowing fears over security and migration, together with commercial self-interest, to override engagement on Turkey's political trajectory — while Ankara, in his assessment, plays along with the same transactional logic. He extended the criticism to Turkey-US relations, expressing surprise that segments of the Turkish political and intellectual class still believe a change in Washington's administration, such as a transition away from Donald Trump to Democratic leadership, would meaningfully alter the West's approach toward Turkey.
Tracing this dynamic to what he called a recurring weakness among Turkish intellectuals since the Tanzimat era, Yetkin argued that the impulse to seek Western backing — political, economic or military — for the cause of Turkish rights and freedoms has repeatedly proven costly. He cited the Committee of Union and Progress's alliance with Germany, debates over American mandate rule at the 1919 Erzurum Congress, and contrasted these with what he portrayed as a more self-reliant tradition associated with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, İsmet İnönü, Süleyman Demirel and Bülent Ecevit. Yetkin concluded that Turkey's struggle for rights and freedoms cannot be sustained by relying on anticipated Western support.