ANKARA, Aug. 16 -- Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not withdraw Turkey's application to join the European Union on Saturday. The file remains open in Brussels, where it has sat since the bloc recognised Ankara as a candidate in 1999. What the Turkish president did was quieter and considerably harder for Brussels to answer. He said that getting in is no longer something Turkey is especially trying to do.

Speaking to Al Jazeera's Ali Al Dafiri for the Arabic-language programme Al Muqabala, Erdogan said Europe apparently does not want Turkey inside the union, that membership is not a priority for Ankara, and that it is Europe rather than Turkey that loses by keeping the door shut. Europe, in the network's English account of the interview, would be...