Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday accused the European Union of seeking to distance itself from Turkey, while accession negotiations with Ankara are stalled.

"The European Union seeks to distance itself from Turkey. We will make our own assessment of the situation and we can also go in another direction," Erdogan said before heading to New York to participate in the United Nations General Assembly.

The Turkish President was answering journalists' questions after the European Enlargement Commissioner asked Ankara to make progress on the issue of democracy. Hungarian Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said during his visit to Ankara last week, “The accession negotiations are currently suspended. In order for them to resume, there are very clear criteria...that must be taken into account, linked to democracy and the rule of law.”

Turkey, still officially an EU candidate, submitted its application in 1987 to the EEC and in 1999 to the EU, but accession negotiations that began in 2005 have been stalled for several years.
Relations have been strained since the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey and the subsequent widespread purges targeting opponents and journalists.