ANKARA, October 12. /TASS/. Turkey does not intend to call off the EU membership bid but due the dire state of the European economy, the EU accession may seem unreasonable, Senior Advisor to the Turkish Prime Minister Mehmet Akarca told Russian journalists on Wednesday.
"Becoming an EU member or building a closer relationship with the EU is not a priority task for Turkey at the moment," he said. "The Turkish people have experienced great upheavals lately. We now know who our true friend and partner is, and who prefers to safeguard their own interests."
According to Akarca, after the recent events in Turkey, the European direction has lost popularity, however "it would be an overly politicized and too emotional decision to refuse to cooperate with the European Union."
"Politics is a sphere of pragmatic thinking," he noted. "For that reason and taking into account the dire state of the European economy, the question arises as to whether it is reasonable to become a member of the European Union while it is facing a crisis."