European Parliament calls for suspension of Turkey accession talks
In a critical report, the European Parliament has suggested suspending Turkey’s long-stalled EU accession negotiations unless negative domestic and foreign policy trends are reversed.
ISTANBUL — In the latest sign of fraught relations between European nations and Ankara, the European Parliament called Wednesday for the suspension of Turkey’s European Union accession talks unless current negative trends are “urgently and consistently reversed.”
In its highly critical 2019-2020 Report on Turkey, the EP cited an ongoing deterioration of democratic and institutional norms in Turkey as well as “aggressive foreign policy moves, including illegal action against EU member states,” as grounds for recommending the formal suspension of accession talks that began in 2005 and have since stalled amid political turbulence.
“The government of Turkey has unfortunately increasingly and rapidly distanced itself from the EU’s values and its normative framework, contrary to what would be expected of a candidate country,” stated the report, which was adopted Wednesday with 480 votes in favor, 64 against and 150 abstentions.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry rejected the conclusions in a statement Wednesday, condemning the report as a “biased text” that includes “false allegations.”
