Turkish FM meets head of EU Turkey delegation

Turkey’s EU membership bid was discussed by Turkey’s foreign minister and the head of the European Union delegation to Turkey in a meeting in Ankara on Monday.

This is the first time that Stefano Monservisi, who was appointed to Turkey in February, was received by Ahmet Davutoglu.

The meeting was closed to press and lasted half an hour.

Turkey’s EU mission has been without an ambassador since former envoy Jean-Maurice Ripert left his post in October after a call from France’s President Francois Hollande to become ambassador to Russia.

Turkey continues to pursue its EU membership and aims to open chapters 23 and 24 that cover judiciary, justice, freedom and fundamental rights.

The foreign minister and the EU delegation head also talked about the latest developments in Ukraine, where Petro Poroshenko, who scored a landslide victory in last month’s presidential poll with 55.9 percent of the vote, pledged to crush the separatist insurgency in the east at his swearing-in ceremony on Saturday.