• In response to the EU’s annual report on Turkey’s bid to join the bloc, in which it accused Ankara of “serious backsliding” on democratic standards, the rule of law, human rights, and judicial independence, Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the assessment unjust and biased. Al Jazeera (LR: 2 CP: 1)
• Turkey, whose membership bid has been frozen for years since talks began in 2005, further argued that the assessment highlighted “the insincerity of EU’s approach and a clear double-standard.” It added that the fundamental rights issues were contentious even among EU member states. Reuters (LR: 3 CP: 5)
• The transactional relationship between Ankara and the EU, which some member states believe makes accession impossible, deepened in 2016 after the EU gave Turkey billions of euros in exchange for Ankara’s help in stopping migrants from entering Europe. Many believe hopes for accession died in 2009 after Germany and France said Turkey should not join, and even more so after the UK, a long-time friend of Ankara, left the bloc. Voice of America
• This comes as the relationship has become increasingly strained over immigration and, more recently, Turkey’s criticism of Israel and the West over the Israel-Hamas war and humanitarian issues in Gaza. Al Jazeera (LR: 2 CP: 1)
• The EU’s final report is due before its next summit gathering of member leaders in December, though experts and EU officials say not to expect much improvement in ties. Some countries, like Austria, have even called for the accession process to end. Voice of America

Narrative A:

• Austria and Turkey have actually been strengthening diplomatic ties, as shown by Austrian Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s visit to Ankara last month — the first state visit from a chancellor in 22 years. If Turkey’s main accession opponent was willing to do this, imagine what its view on EU membership could be a year from now. Not only would Turkey’s EU membership help grow European economic prosperity, but Austria could use this moment to become a historic diplomatic leader on the global stage.
  Daily Sabah

Narrative B:

• Turkey simply has too many red flags to consider incorporating it into the EU. It refuses to recognize Cyprus as part of Greece, it’s located far from Europe and amongst countries with regional instability, and its economy is riddled with low wages and high inflation. The EU has a duty to protect its economic, geographical, and security interests. That said, there’s no reason why diplomatic ties between Ankara and the EU can’t deepen outside of the accession process and strong relations can be built outside of this framework.
  Schengen Visa

Nerd narrative:

• There’s a 10% chance that Turkey will be a member of the European Union by 2040, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
  Metaculus (LR: 3 CP: 3)