Spain’s Socialist PM Reiterates Support for ‘Essential Ally’ Turkey to Join the EU

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has affirmed his support for Turkey becoming a member state of the European Union.

The affirmation was made while Prime Minister Sánchez was on an official visit to Ankara, during which the two nations signed a number of agreements ranging from renewable energy to managing natural disasters.

“We are united by a historic commitment that Turkey is part of the European Union,” the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party politician stated, according to the regional edition of the Huffington Post.

“We are going to work together so that this agenda goes ahead,” Sánchez added.

The comments come despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan having previously criticised a number of European states for taking part in colonialism during a four-day tour of African back in October of this year.

Turkey first applied to join the then European Economic Community in 1987, with negotiations on the nation becoming a fully-fledged EU member starting in 2005.

However, according to the EU’s executive, negotiations on Turkey’s membership has “come to a standstill”. The question of Turkish membership was very much a live one during the Brexit referendum, however, with the then-pro-remain government of David Cameron expressing concerns that Turkish membership would push Britons to vote to leave.

President Erdogan also emphasised during the visit that he hoped to increase defence cooperation with Spain, a fellow member of NATO, through the purchase of an aircraft carrier.

The president also stated that the purchase of a submarine from Spain was also on the cards.

The two nations have already cooperated on the construction of a Spanish assault ship.

“The first aircraft carrier was not a large-scale one. We have agreed on the construction of a large scale (carrier),” the Turkish president stated at a press conference with the Spanish prime minister.

“There is so much we can do in the defense industry, including (concerning) armed and unarmed unmanned aerial vehicles,” Erdogan said.

The United States had meanwhile pushed Turkey out of the F-35 fighter jet programme after the nation bought Russian weapons technology, including the controversial purchase of anti-aircraft missiles in 2017.

A number of sanctions were also imposed on several of the nation’s defence officials.