And updating of the customs law to bring it into harmony with EU customs laws and regulations. The government program also pledges to promote efforts to resolve differences with Greece through dialogue, starting with the Aegean Sea, where Turkish and Greek territorial claims overlap. Other factors favoring EU caution on Turkey at the Cologne summit included concern on human rights issues, including the ongoing trial in Turkey of Kurdish insurgent leader Abdullah Ocalan. The EU previously stated its opposition to capital punishment and is likely to freeze relations with Ankara if Ocalan is executed. If you do not recognize me, I will not recognize you either.
Chance exists when everyone is on an equal footing.
Turkey is not on an equal footing. This is the feeling that we have, but unfortunately this is also the reality. Akarcali notes that Turkey is developing economically through its own means and says it has received no substantial contribution from the European Union since 1980. As a result, he says, Turkey is financing about a quarter of the EU's external commercial trade surplus. Akarcali accuses the EU of devoting too few bureaucrats in Brussels to Turkey.