ISTANBUL, July 16. /TASS/. A full-fledged membership in the European Union and cooperation with it are among the priorities of Turkey’s foreign policy; however, cooperation with Turkey is beneficial for the European Union as well, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said on Sunday.

"As a country in the process of European integration, we have always been favoring cooperation with Europe, which accounts for nearly half of our foreign trade. Europe is home for millions of Turks and this is very important as well. For quite a long time, a number of EU countries have been seeking to isolate Turkey from it, although cooperation with it is in the European Union’s interests," he said in an interview with the A-Haber television channel.

"We will take more active efforts on issues concerning the customs union and the visa-free travel regime. Currently, the customs union only covers the industrial sector. Areas of cooperation will be expanded in the perspective. The ball is in the EU’s court. We hope they will assess the situation correctly," he added.

After the NATO summit in Vilnius earlier in July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced plans to speed up the negotiating process linked with his country’s accession to the European Union, relations within the customs union and the visa-free travel regime.

Turkey has been seeking EU membership since 2005. To date, 16 out of 35 positions of the so-called negotiating dossier are open. The key stumbling block at the talks is the Cypriot problem.