No matter how the Varna Summit influences Turkish-EU relations, it is no secret that European officials will continue to subject Turkey to double standards. We have no reason to believe that the EU will continue to contradict its core values, including democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Today, Europe is going down a dangerous path. The self-proclaimed political center in many countries has been captivated by racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia. At the same time, Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country with deep-running political and economic ties to the European community, is being demonized every day by European leaders and media outlets. More important, the EU continues to be hypocritical when it comes to the relationship between violence and civilian politics – an unnegotiable redline for any democracy.

Let us take a step back and recall the most recent developments in Europe. The case of Catalonia represents a litmus test for the EU. On Oct. 1, 2017, the government of Catalonia held an independence referendum to peacefully secede from Spain. Catalan nationalists did not resort to violence. They did not carry out armed attacks or detonate bombs to make their point. Instead, they simply went to the polls and cast their votes. To be clear, this was no ordinary contest. It could have paved the way to Spain's territorial disintegration.

It was therefore that the Spanish authorities responded strongly to the referendum. Hundreds of soldiers and police officers were deployed to Catalonia, where several separatist politicians were arrested. Angered by the Catalan nationalists' declaration of independence, Madrid invoked Article 155 of the Spanish constitution to impose direct rule over Catalonia. At the same time, Spain's Constitutional Court declared the independence vote null and void. Today, at least eight Catalan parliamentarians remain in prison.Last week, former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who is wanted in Spain on charges of inciting a rebellion, was taken into custody in Germany. In other words, EU countries complied with an arrest order issued by the Spanish courts.

To be clear, Spain and the EU took legitimate action against a separatist movement whose methods were nonviolent yet potentially destructive, in order to prevent the territorial disintegration of Spain. The convictions of Catalan nationalists would have brought destruction and disorder to the rest of Spain's population.

Now, let us compare the EU's approach to the Catalan crisis with its treatment of Turkey. To be clear, European politicians have subjected Ankara to double standards and essentially treated Turkey as a hostile power.

In recent years, European countries and institutions conveniently ignored Turkey's efforts to expand the rights of its Kurdish population, reverse assimilation policies and promote civilian politics through disarmament talks. Nor have they been willing to acknowledge the use of violence by the PKK, a designated terrorist organization, for political gain. Europe did not condemn the killing of ethnic Kurds by the same group, which detonated 15 tons of explosives on the streets of Diyarbakır.

Today, approximately 4,500 members of the PKK, which the EU considers a terrorist organization, continue to walk the streets of Europe. In response to European indifference, Turkey took matters into its own hands. Just like the Spanish government, the Turkish authorities arrested politicians with links to violent groups. Like Puigdemont, Selahattin Demirtaş, who was a co-chair of the PKK-connected Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), was taken into custody. European leaders were quick to express concern and protest what they described as Turkey's authoritarian turn. The EU's support to terrorist organizations was not limited to the PKK, either. In the wake of the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, EU officials issued statements to condemn Turkey's crackdown on the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). Most recently, European authorities allowed Salih Muslim, the former co-chair of the PKK's Syrian affiliate Democratic Union Party (PYD) currently wanted by Ankara on terrorism charges, to walk free just as Catalan politicians were put behind bars.

Here is the sad thing – Turkey and Spain faced completely different national security threats. The Spanish government took action against the possibility that separatist ideas could translate into violence. By contrast, Turkey been fighting three extremely violent groups, FETÖ, Daesh and the PKK – not to mention the negative side effects on the Syrian civil war across the southern border.

Currently, it appears that many people are looking for a magic wand to repair the EU's relationship with Ankara, but acknowledging double standards alone would go a long way.