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Chancellor Angela Merkel after the video summit with the EU heads of state and government
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
At their video summit, the EU heads of state and government defined their future course vis-à-vis Turkey.
However, Ankara is not satisfied with the results.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that although the video summit on Thursday identified "the need for a positive agenda", the message to Turkey was formulated "from a one-sided point of view and influenced by the narrow-minded accusations of a few member states."
At the same time, Ankara promised to react to EU measures "in the direction of our common interests" with positive steps.
At their video summit, the EU heads of state and government criticized “targeted attacks on political parties and the media” as “severe setbacks for human rights”, but offered Turkey far-reaching concessions in view of the easing of the dispute over natural gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.
Concrete decisions only in June
The EU states offered Turkey the prospect of expanding the customs union as well as talks at a high level and making travel easier for Turkish citizens.
The heads of state and government want to proceed with all offers "in a graduated, proportionate and reversible manner" and only take concrete decisions in June.
The EU will "of course also look at how the détente in the eastern Mediterranean develops," emphasized Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).
The Turkish government decided to withdraw from the international Istanbul Convention for the Protection of Women's Rights at the weekend.
According to a non-governmental organization, murders of women in Turkey have tripled in the past ten years.
The Council of Europe then condemned the "devastating news" as a "major blow" to efforts to protect women.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) and other EU foreign ministers sharply criticized the Turkish government.
mfh / AFP