The foreign ministers of the 27 member states of the European Union met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the possibility of enhancing their relations with Turkey, given their inability to offer a serious prospect for Turkey's membership in their bloc.
This long-awaited discussion about a partner that cannot be ignored gained more significance after the NATO summit last week in Vilnius, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's conditions weighed heavily on the atmosphere.
However, Erdoğan surprised everyone by linking his approval for Sweden's NATO membership to the resumption of Turkey's stalled negotiations to join the European Union.
After an intensive diplomatic activity, Erdoğan finally dropped his opposition to Sweden's membership in the alliance, while warning that there would be no approval before October at the earliest for his country's accession to the European Union.