![\"Turkey\"](\"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Turkey.jpg\")
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday meets the leaders of the EU\u2019s top bodies for a potentially stormy encounter that will seek ways to repair an increasingly fractured relationship.\nEuropean Union President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker will talk with Erdogan at the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Varna with a litany of problems clouding their discussions.
\nTopics including the crackdown in Turkey after the July 2016 failed coup, Turkish demands for visa liberalization and the near-endless saga of Ankara\u2019s own EU membership bid are expected to loom high.
\nAnd while all the leaders were hoping at least a more harmonious mood music would come out of the working dinner, a row over Greece and Cyprus added a new shadow days before the talks.
\nBulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council, said it was expected to be \u201ca very difficult meeting.\u201d
\nBut both sides \u2014 with a joint interest in improving security cooperation and economic relations \u2014 will also not want the talks to fail.
\n\u201cThe Varna summit will provide a platform to re-launch the dialogue between the two parties, even though no real breakthrough is expected in concrete terms,\u201d said Jana Jabbour, professor of political science at Sciences Po university in Paris and the author of a book on Turkish foreign policy.
\nTemperatures were raised after EU leaders last week condemned Turkey\u2019s \u201cillegal actions\u201d toward Greece and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea.
\nAnkara hit back at the \u201cunacceptable comments\u201d and said the EU had lost its objectivity on Cyprus, which is divided between the Greek-majority internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.
\nThe statement on Thursday by the 28 EU members meeting in Brussels condemned Turkey over Ankara\u2019s arrest of two Greek soldiers and its promise to prevent the Greek Cypriot government from exploring for oil and gas.
\nTurkish EU Minister Omer Celik said Turkey could not accept such statements by the EU.
\n\u201cThis issue will be raised in Varna, where we hope to have a wide-ranging discussion on EU-Turkey relations and on the way ahead,\u201d Tusk said.
\nJuncker said he was \u201clooking with mixed feelings toward the summit because the differences in views between the EU and Turkey are many.\u201d
\nBut, he added \u201cwe will have a frank and open debate with President Erdogan.\u201d
\nAnkara and Brussels had in March 2016 agreed a controversial deal to stop the flow of migrants, in what was seen as a landmark in cooperation and which Turkey hoped would yield visa free travel to Europe.
\nSo far this incentive has not been realized and Erdogan is expected to press this strongly in the talks.
\n\u201cTurkey considers it (visa liberalization) a priority,\u201d Jabbour told AFP.
\nBut, she added, \u201cit would be delusional to believe that the EU would grant Turkey concessions on this matter.\u201d
\nBrussels has repeatedly criticized the post coup crackdown which has seen nearly 160,000 people arrested, including dozens of journalists.
\nTurkey, for its part, accused Brussels of failing to show solidarity after the coup and appears set on forging a strong partnership with President Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia.
\nIn contrast to the evening meeting with the EU leadership, Putin is expected to make a full two-day visit to Turkey early next month.
\nAnkara\u2019s long-stalled bid to join the EU will also be discussed during the summit, but Western diplomats and analysts agree meaningful steps are unlikely.
\nEven Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey did not have \u201cany expectations right now from the EU regarding the membership process.\u201d
\nNonetheless, Erdogan has for now dropped from speeches his threats to reimpose the death penalty in Turkey, a move that would automatically end the EU membership bid.
\nNext month the bloc will release its latest progress report, which is \u201cbound to illustrate a substantial regression\u201d in Turkey, Marc Pierini, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe and a former EU ambassador to Turkey, said in a study.
\nDuring a visit by Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year Ankara should settle instead for a looser \u201cpartnership,\u201d after suggesting no progress was possible.<\/p>\n