Turkey to reject any option other than full membership of EU – minister

Turkey would reject any offer of partnership with the EU that falls short of membership, Ankara’s minister for EU affairs said. Omer Celik also told Reuters that the current situation gave Turkey no reason to maintain its migrant deal with the bloc. “A privileged partnership or similar approaches… we don’t take any of these seriously. Turkey cannot be offered such a thing,” Celik said. French President Emmanuel Macron said two weeks ago that developments in Turkey did not allow for progress in its decades-long push to join the EU. He said discussions should change focus and mentioned the possibility of a partnership that would fall short of full membership. The EU has expressed concern over Turkey’s crackdown on suspected supporters of a failed 2016 coup.