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Turkey will dance very difficult dance with EU from now on: Alexander Velev

Photo: BGNES

One year after the coup attempt in Turkey the Turkish society is strongly divided, Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio and former Consul General of Bulgaria to Turkey Alexander Velev told the BNR on Saturday. The small difference in the support towards the Presidential and the Parliamentary Republic shows in fact how much the Turkish society is divided. The march that ended with a huge meeting in Istanbul headed by the leader of the Republican People’s Party Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu shows that many Turkish citizens stand in support of the opposition’s demands, Alexander Velev went on to say. It is still difficult to say whether that country’s opposition will manage to restructure, consolidate and gain momentum until the next elections in two years. In the recent years a maximum of 20% of the Turkish nationals have been supporting the People’s Democratic Party and that level of support has not changed significantly, which is perhaps due to problems related to leadership,  Alexander Velev said and forecasted that Turkey and Brussels will have complicated talks with regard to Turkey’s candidature for EU membership. Turkey and the EU will dance a very difficult dance from now on. However, possible suspension of the EU accession talks between Brussels and Ankara and tension between Turkey and the EU are not in Bulgaria’s interest, because this would mean that Turkey will be receding from the European Union, Alexander Velev further said.




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