Turkey, Slovakia discuss EU progress report

By Ecenur Colak

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s EU minister discussed the bloc's annual progress report on Turkey, which was released Wednesday with the Slovakian foreign minister Friday, according to a ministry statement.

The report devoted a considerable amount of space to the country's defeated July 15 coup.

In a phone call Friday, Omer Celik reminded Miroslav Lajcak that the report was severely criticized by Turkish authorities for "not being objective", according to Turkey's EU Ministry.

Celik criticized the report on Thursday and said it was “far from the spirit of accession negotiations”.

The Turkish minister said he appreciated Lajcak's solidarity after the July 15 coup attempt as well as his constructive dialogue and vision of the future of Turkey-EU relations.

Celik also voiced determination to fight against all terrorist organizations "particularly the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO)", and the circles that support these groups.