Indicating that Turkey was passing through a significant turning point in the EU accession process, IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu stressed the need to speed up the reforms to revitalise relations with the EU. IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu pointed out to Turkey’s critical importance for reaching EU’s objectives of economic resilience and strategic autonomy in the post-COVID-19 era. Chairman Zeytinoğlu stated that recently there were some disagreements on foreign policy issues between Turkey and the EU and that the Greek Cypriot Administration and Greece bringing their bilateral disputes with Turkey on to the EU platform undermined the relations. Zeytinoğlu indicated that France’s approach vis-à-vis Turkey was far from being constructive whereas Germany as the current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency was moderating the radical attitudes displayed by some Member States and with the support of Member States such as Italy and Spain preventing the relations from taking a worse course. He made the following remarks:

“We are going through a critical phase in our relations with the EU. Meeting at the European Council on 10 December 2020, EU Member States confirmed that the positive agenda proposed on 1 October 2020 was still valid. As it can be recalled, the positive agenda pointed to areas such as Customs Union modernisation, trade facilitation, people to people contacts, cooperation on migration and the resumption of high-level dialogues to revitalise the relations. However, the realisation of the positive agenda was made conditional upon Turkey ceasing its activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was stated that for Turkey the objective of EU membership continued, but linking it to vital Turkish foreign policy issues was deemed inappropriate. The proposal for a positive agenda was reiterated at the European Council meeting of 10 December 2020. States advocating harsh sanctions for Turkey ahead of the summit did not get what they wanted. However, this does not mean that the problems are solved. In the coming period, we must speed up the steps aimed at restoring the relations with the EU”.

IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu stated that the EU's approach of imposing sanctions on Turkey because of its actions of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean was unfair. Indicating that Turkey was the candidate country having the most deep-rooted relations with the EU, IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu stressed that Turkey was fulfilling very important functions for the security of Europe at its borders. He said that totally submitting to the claims by Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration and confronting Turkey was in contradiction with the EU’s strategic vision. Additionally, IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu underscored that Turkey had an opportunity to restore its relations with the EU through political and economic reforms. He continued as follows:

 "The EU will revert to Turkey-EU relations at the summit in March. Tougher decisions could come out unless there is an improvement in the relations by then. The EU is a very important partner as a destination for half of our exports and two thirds of foreign direct investment flows to our country. In addition, the fact that we have a membership objective highlights the EU’s position further. A series of reform steps must be taken without wasting time to move forward towards these objectives. First of all, steps can be taken quickly to fulfil the remaining benchmarks in the visa liberalisation process. Turkey has already fulfilled 66 of the 72 benchmarks. Taking action to meet the remaining benchmarks quickly will have a positive effect on the relations. Moreover, necessary reforms should be undertaken in order for our country to achieve a better performance in the field of rule of law, judicial independence and fundamental rights. In 2018, citing that Turkey was moving away from the EU, the EU had stated that no new chapters would be opened and the talks aimed at the modernisation of the Customs Union would not be launched. Since then, the problems related to the Customs Union have continued and the solution of the problems has become more urgent. The reforms I have mentioned are of great importance in launching this process and extending it into new sectors such as agriculture, services and public procurement. Returning to EU reforms again as in the early 2000s, will also pave the way for this process to begin. The modernisation of the Customs Union will make it easier for Turkey to align with the new norms and standards generated by recent initiatives such as EU’s Digital Agenda and the European Green Deal. This way, our competitiveness in the EU market will increase and our role in value chains will become even more important. Advancing economic integration with the EU will also contribute to Turkey's goal to rank among the world’s ten biggest economies.”