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ANKARA – Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promises European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso he will accelerate the country's EU accession negotiations after the June 12 elections. Speaking on the sidelines of the 4th UN Least Developed Counties Conference in Istanbul, Erdoğan also says he will visit to Brussels to hold talks on the issue, Hurriyet reported.

The Turkish prime minister and the head of the European Commission have agreed to ramp up long-stalled EU accession talks following Turkey’s June 12 general election.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that they want to "immediately boost" negotiations for Turkey’s membership in the EU after the election, the Hurriyet Daily News has learned.

The two political figures held a bilateral meeting Monday on the sidelines of the 4th U.N. Least Developed Countries Conference, or LDC-IV, in Istanbul.

In the meeting, Barroso told Erdoğan that the European Union was following the prime minister’s remarks in his election rallies.

"We appreciate that you give importance to Turkey’s relations with the EU," Barroso told Erdoğan. The European official also asked the prime minister about the preparation of Turkey’s new constitution and said the commission is waiting to hear about the steps in the process.

Erdoğan responded positively to Barroso’s proposal to accelerate the EU membership process and said he wanted to visit Brussels after the June polls, a trip he has postponed due to his election campaign. The Cyprus problem and the Nabucco pipeline project were also discussed at the meeting Monday.

The slowdown in Turkey’s EU membership negotiations was also on the agenda of Turkish President Abdullah Gül during his meeting with Barroso on Monday. Diplomatic sources said Gül criticized the vacillation of some EU countries over Turkey’s accession. "There are private opinions" among some members of the 27-nation bloc that negatively affect Turkey’s relations with the European Union, Gül said.

Turkey and the EU began accession talks in 2005 but Ankara has only been able to open 13 negotiation chapters out of 35. Turkey has opened no new policy chapter recently in the longest period of diplomatic drought since the accession talks started.

The Turkish government has accused EU countries of slowing the talks while the EU continues to press Turkey to keep its promises to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot vessels. Talks on eight chapters are suspended since Turkey is seen as not fulfilling its obligation toward Greek Cyprus.