Turkey is reforming 'at full speed' for EU accession: PM

(SOFIA) - Turkey is implementing political reforms "at full speed" as part of its ambitions to join the EU, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday, a day after Ankara and Brussels opened a new chapter in long-stalled membership talks.

"The reforms are ongoing and will continue at full speed," Davutoglu said during an official visit to Bulgaria's capital Sofia.

The reforms are part of a deal agreed at a summit last month between the EU and Turkey, which vowed to help the bloc tackle the migrant crisis in exchange for money, visas and relaunching accession talks.

On Monday, the two sides officially started a new section on economic and monetary policy -- Chapter 17 -- in the membership process.

Since Turkey's membership bid began in 2005, the EU has launched 15 chapters out of a total of 35 required to join the bloc.

However, only one of them has so far been completed due to disagreements, including over human rights and press freedom in Turkey, and the status of the Turkish-held north of EU member Cyprus.

"The reasons for the delays in (the progress on) EU-Turkey relations was not so much the delay of reforms in Turkey, but problems that arose around Cyprus," Davutoglu said.

"Together with the progress on the Cyprus issue, we estimate that the integration of Turkey into the EU will happen soon."

As well as the new chapter, the EU at last month's summit pledged three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in aid for the more than two million Syrian refugees currently on Turkish soil.

The bloc also said it would end the visa requirement for Turkish visitors to the EU's passport-free Schengen zone.

In return, Turkey vowed to take steps such as cracking down on people smugglers and cooperating with the EU on the return of economic migrants who do not qualify as refugees.