Turkish and European Union ministers are meeting in Istanbul to discuss Turkey's stalled bid to join the bloc.
Turkey began accession talks in 2005, but has made little progress since. France and Germany have expressed opposition to the bid while negotiations over some policy areas are frozen over a dispute over Cyprus.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Egemen Bagis, Turkey’s chief EU negotiator, met Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Spain’s state secretary for European affairs, Diego Lopez Garrido on Thursday.
Eight out of 35 policy areas up for negotiation have been frozen over Turkey’s failure to allow ships and planes from Cyprus to enter its ports and airspace. Turkey does not recognize the Greek Cypriot government in the island’s South.
