Turkish President accuses EU of lacking vision regarding Ankara’s bid

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Saturday (October 16th) that European politicians and intellectuals lack vision regarding Turkey’s EU accession bid. “They should think in the perspective of 25, 50 or 100 years,” Gul said told the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, ahead of German counterpart Christian Wulff’s visit to Ankara on Monday. Last week, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner criticised Turkey for lagging behind in its EU accession talks due to a failure to implement necessary reforms. Gul acknowledged that Ankara still has work to do, but at the same time, said the EU is also to blame for the slow pace of negotiations.