German Chancellor Angela Merkel will insist on “privileged partnership” for Turkey instead of full EU membership when she visits the country next week, World Bulletin reported.

“There are intertwined relations between Turkey and the EU. There are 35 chapters in the (membership) talks. I am confident that 27-28 of them can be taken up and this will really mean a privileged partnership,” she was quoted as saying by the Milliyet newspaper.

Some issues, like institutional integration, will be left out of the scope, Merkel reporters, before her visit to Turkey on Monday and Tuesday.

Merkel however stressed the European Union placed “great importance” on the need for Turkey to follow a foreign policy consistent with the bloc’s stance.

She said she would also push Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a customs union accord with the EU that requires Turkey to open its sea and air ports to Greek Cypriot vessels.

T.P.