Eurasia Press & News
Turkey and the European Union will open Chapter 22, which concerns regional policy and the coordination of structural instruments, on Tuesday at the Intergovernmental Accession Conference, thus ending a three-year hiatus in Turkey’s accession talks.
The EU took this year’s European Commission Progress Report on Turkey into account when deciding whether to restart Turkey’s frozen accession process by opening talks on a new policy area.
Though having already agreed in June that Chapter 22 on regional policy would be opened, the EU then delayed the intergovernmental conference until October in retaliation for Turkey’s handling of the Gezi Park protests. These protests that swept Turkish cities started in opposition to the redevelopment of İstanbul’s Gezi Park but soon became violent through the involvement of marginal groups. Clashes with police left four people dead and around 7,500 injured.
Turkey’s accession talks have been frozen for three years.
