Turkey Criticizes EU Over Stalled Accession Talks

Date: 18 December 2021 - 21:40

News ID: ۹۷۸۶۱

ANKARA (Dispatches) – Turkey has
criticized the European Union (EU) over stalled accession talks, saying that the bloc’s policies are “detached from reality” and “based on ideological motives”.
The General Affairs Council of the EU on Tuesday expressed concern over Turkey’s democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights, adding that “Turkey’s accession negotiations effectively have come to a standstill and no further chapters can be considered for opening or closing.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the decisions adopted by the EU have shown once again that the bloc approaches enlargement within the framework of “membership solidarity, not from a strategic perspective”.
These policies do not contribute to Turkey-EU relations and do not serve the general interests of Europe, the statement added.
“We are surprised to see that the EU acts as an interest group based on bargaining, not as a set of principles or values while making these decisions,” stated the ministry.
In 2018, negotiations between Ankara and Brussels for Turkey’s accession to the bloc were frozen over what the EU called Turkey’s backsliding with regard to democracy and the rule of law.

‘U.S. Terrorism Report Unfair, Biased’

Turkey also on Friday rejected a new U.S. State Department report on terrorism, saying it did not fairly evaluate Ankara’s fight against terror groups.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the Country Reports on Terrorism 2020, released on Thursday, undermines Turkey’s fight against terrorist groups such as the PKK, DHKP-C, and Daesh as well as its contributions to international counter-terror efforts, Anadolu news agency reported.
On allegations in the report that Turkey’s counter-terror efforts restricted rights and freedoms, the statement called them “baseless and unacceptable”.
Turkey guards the thin line between security and freedom without differentiating between terror groups, it added.
Turkey has long objected to the U.S. support for the Kurdish YPG, ostensibly to fight Daesh, saying that using one terror group to fight another makes no sense.
“Thus,” the ministry continued, “it is unacceptable that terrorist attacks by PKK-affiliated groups targeting civilians, including hospitals, in Syria, resulting in the death of more than 120 innocent people last year, are not included in the report”.