Turkey doesn't even recognize Cyprus, an EU member. It will be braindead for Cyprus to not veto Turkey. Saying Turkey was "close" to join EU is a really long stretch.
Yep. Lots of hurdles. Turkey needed to grow up in some ways and was closer to getting there 10-15 years ago, but it actually regressed in some ways under Erdoğan.
In some ways? It regressed the whole nine yards. Won't be surprised if Turkey ends up as a basket case of a major economic crisis which will inadvertently lead to a major social crisis.
This is a worldwide phenomenon of "too much" democracy (populism) vs. weak republics/administrative states/similar with increasing corruption plus manufactured consent to have more of it, funded by hamfisted billionaires.
Turkey doesn't even recognize Cyprus, an EU member. It will be braindead for Cyprus to not veto Turkey. Saying Turkey was "close" to join EU is a really long stretch.