EU's Kallas and two commissioners hold talks in Ankara ahead of NATO summit, seeking to reset Turkey ties
High Representative Kaja Kallas, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, and Internal Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner spent June 29-30 in Ankara meeting Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and two other ministers, the highest-level EU visit since Turkey's accession talks stalled, timed eight days before the Ankara NATO summit
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Summary
EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and two commissioners, Marta Kos (enlargement) and Magnus Brunner (internal affairs and migration), held high-level talks in Ankara on June 29-30, meeting Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Finance Minister Mehmet Simşek and Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu. The agenda spanned Ukraine, the Middle East, security, migration, visa liberalisation, and EU-Turkey relations. The visit is the most senior EU delegation to Ankara in years and lands eight days before the NATO summit the country is hosting, July 7-8, giving Turkey unusual leverage. Turkey has been a NATO member since 1952 but EU accession talks have been formally frozen since 2018.
The split
Turkish government outlets framed the visit as Ankara extracting long-overdue concessions from a bloc that needs it on migration and defence. The Ukrainian-language wire focused on the Ukraine angle, wanting Ankara's role as a corridor for grain and peace mediation addressed. Neither side confirmed whether visa liberalisation, the longest-stalled file, produced any commitments.
Why it matters
With NATO meeting in Turkey in eight days and the EU needing Ankara's cooperation on migration as election cycles tighten, Turkey holds more leverage than at any point since the 2016 refugee deal. Whether the talks produce tangible progress on accession or remain optics will signal whether the bloc is genuinely willing to rehabilitate the relationship.
What to watch
- Any joint statement from the Kallas-Fidan meeting.
- NATO Ankara summit July 7-8 for whether EU-Turkey deliverables appear in the communique.
- Progress on visa liberalisation and the 2026 Enlargement Report expected in autumn.