Senior Turkish official meets EU commissioner for enlargement

ANKARA

Turkey’s diplomat in charge of EU relations on Thursday met with the EU commissioner for enlargement to discuss bilateral ties.

"We discussed the necessity and basic elements of advancing Turkey-European Union relations in line with the positive agenda," Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakci, in charge of EU affairs, tweeted of his meeting with Oliver Varhelyi in Brussels, the bloc’s de facto capital.

Kaymakci also attached images of the meeting.

Varhelyi also tweeted that he welcomed Kaymakci at the EU Commission to "discuss the outlook for EU-Turkey bilateral relations."

Turkey, a candidate for EU membership since 1999, began its accession talks with the bloc in 2005.

In recent years its candidacy has been stalled, with no new chapters opened in the accession talks. Turkey blames the lack of progress on unfair political blockades by particular EU members.