ANKARA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday called on the European Union to open a new page in the accession talks between Ankara and Brussels which is in limbo since 2016.
"We think it is time to open a new page in the accession process. The Council of the EU should review its decision to suspend Partnership Council meetings, high levels of contact and dialogue. We see that Croatia, the new presidency of the EU, is also constructive in this regard," Cavusoglu said at a meeting with the ambassadors of EU countries in Ankara.
Turkey has been involved in membership talks with the EU since 2005 but the progress has been extremely slow, as the EU considers Ankara's political values different from its own.
In Turkey's EU accession negotiations, 16 chapters are opened, but only one chapter is temporarily closed. 14 chapters are blocked due to the political decisions of the EU Council and Cyprus.
No new chapters have been opened after a failed coup in Turkey in 2016, as the EU sharpened its criticism of the Turkish government over Ankara's practices that move away from democracy and the European values.
Cavusoglu recalled that EU decisions to slap Turkey with sanctions over its hydrocarbon activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, along with other sources of tension with Brussels such as Turkey's Operation Peace Spring in Syria and the country's deal with Libya on the maritime jurisdiction zones in the eastern Mediterranean.
On Nov. 11, the EU Foreign Affairs Council adopted a framework in Brussels for restrictive measures against Turkey over its drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.
