According to Grybauskaitė, talks on one or two more chapters might be launched this year. Since 2005, when Turkey submitted its application, Turkey has launched talks on only 13 negotiation chapters out of 35 that candidates need to agree on.
"During the EU presidency next half of the year, Lithuania is ready to help Turkey not only to resume but also to step up the negotiation process. There's such a political opportunity. We believe that we might be able to open one or two chapters," she told reporters.
The Lithuanian president also warned that, taking into account the geopolitical situation, "it's very important for the processes not to protract."
"The most important thing is that Europe needs Turkey and Turkey needs Europe for the meantime. I say "for the meantime" because it's very important that these processes do not protract. Because Europe is changing and Turkey is changing. The geopolitical situation in the entire region is changing," the Lithuanian president said.
There are hopes that talks between Brussels and Ankara on Turkey's EU accession will be resumed during the Irish EU Presidency.
"We hope that the resumption of talks will start during the Irish Presidency. During our presidency, we will definitely want to step up this process," Grybauskaitė said.
The Turkish president said that the accession of large countries with large populations to the EU is a painful process and underlined that even upon the end of talks on all chapters, Turkey would not become an EU member country automatically.
"We have a large population, large economy and such large countries and their accession has always been painful. We know these things from the past. Some other countries experienced the same. But it's very important to maintain the vitality of this process. And the successful completion of this negotiation process is also very important for us," Gul said.
"Because at the and of the day, even if the negotiations are completed usefully, full membership is not automatic because, as you know, some countries have decided to take that issue to a referendum. Turkish people may be in a different state of mind at that point of time, but these are issues for that point in time in the future. What is important in our view now is successful completion of negotiations and we do hope that during your presidency, new chapters for negotiations may be opened," the Turkish president said.
Turkey 's efforts to join the EU have been stalled in recent years.
Crisis provides great opportunity to end Cyprus dispute
The ongoing economic crisis in Cyprus provides a great opportunity to solve the issue of the island's division, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in Vilnius on Wednesday.
"There is at the moment a significant economic crisis on the island. This should be seen as an important opportunity because there is also a new government on the Greek side," he said during a press conference.
According to the Turkish president, unification would offer great economic potential for the island. The first important step would be to lift existing restrictions, he added.
"Our suggestion is to remove, lift all and any kind of restriction and embargo at the same time simultaneously so that we can create a new climate for taking new steps forward," Gul said.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė said she did not believe that crisis-hit Cyprus "would try to block the negotiation process in one way or another."
"I think, on the contrary. There are many more other problems, and the whole Europe and Turkey are ready to help Cyprus. Against this background, I think, there should be no disruption to stepping up the negotiation process between the EU and Turkey," Grybauskaitė said.
Turkey occupied the northern part of Cyprus in 1974 in response to a Greek coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. The territory was later proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
A referendum on a federal state was held in 2004 but the Greek part of the island, recognized by the European Union, rejected the proposal.
