ANKARA, July 14. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he is waiting for a response from the European Union regarding the transition to a visa-free regime for Turkey and the resumption of negotiation on the country’s accession to the EU.

"Now we are waiting for a response from the European Union. In Vilnius [on the sidelines of the NATO summit], we discussed these issues in detail with the leaders of all EU member states. We held these meetings with all of them and said that we want positive steps to be taken towards Turkey, which has been kept waiting at the door for 52 years," he told journalists in Istanbul on Friday. The broadcast was conducted by the TV channel A Haber.

The Turkish authorities previously stated that the main condition for approval of the NATO application submitted by Sweden in May 2022, should be the fulfillment of the obligations of the Madrid Memorandum on Combating Terrorism. However, before flying to the NATO summit, Erdogan said that Turkey would support Sweden's application to join the alliance in exchange for lifting barriers to Ankara's EU membership.

As a result of Erdogan's contacts with European leaders and the EU leadership, some agreements were reached on intensifying the process of Turkey's European integration. In particular, among the primary goals of Turkey in this matter are the abolition of visas and cooperation as part of the EU Customs Union.