A high-profile Brussels visit this week by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, originally intended to highlight a new era in EU-Turkey ties, may instead wind up underscoring mutual tension over Ankara’s political crisis.
Erdogan flies in to EU headquarters Tuesday for a day of talks with the bloc’s top officials -- European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and European Parliament speaker Martin Schulz.
At the heart of the talks will be Turkey’s stuttering 15-year bid to prise open the door to European Union membership, although the country’s role on the frontline of the conflict in Syria will also feature prominently.
Erdogan’s first visit to Europe’s capital in five years was to have signalled “fresh momentum” in ties after the EU in November agreed to reopen membership negotiations following a three-year freeze.
Shortly after that, in what was dubbed a “milestone” in EU-Turkish relations, Ankara agreed a pact enabling EU nations to repatriate to Turkey the thousands of migrants who slip illegally across its border into Europe.
But sharp words have flown since then due to Ankara’s move to tighten government control over its top judicial body -- the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) -- and its purge of police and others accused of plotting Erdogan’s overthrow.