European Parliament President Martin Schulz said Friday that he hopes Turkey will not give up on negotiations for the country to be part of the European Union, German media reported."Going mute has never helped things, it just creates a situation where things threaten to get worse," Schulz told German newspaper Mindener Tageblatt.The German lawmaker said that an end to negotiations between the EU and Turkey would not be a win for Europe."In fact, it would have the opposite effect. We would miss out on an opportunity to have an influence on what is happening in Turkey, and to perhaps make things better," Schulz said in the interview.President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this week warned that he will wait until the end of the year to see if there is progress on accession talks with the European Union, otherwise he could put the matter to a referendum.Erdoğan recently said the Turkish government will "soon" propose a draft bill to parliament to reinstate the death penalty.Schulz said that should Turkey impose the death penalty, however, then "it's clear" that would signal the end of accession talks.Relations between Turkey and Europe have been stalled by many issues, including the failure of the EU to grant visa liberalization for Turkish citizens as promised and EU's indifference to the coup attempt and terrorist organizations attacking Turkey.The EU and Turkey signed a refugee deal on March 18, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.Although Turkey fulfilled most of the criteria, differences between Brussels and Ankara on anti-terror legislation have forestalled the visa-liberalization deal.

Ankara criticized the European Union's stance on the PKK terror group and FETÖ, saying EU states are turning a blind eye to the terror attacks against the Turkish state and its people as well as the activities of the group within the borders of the EU.

Turkey began its EU accession talks in 2005. In 1963, Turkey and the European Economic Community (the EU's former name) signed an association agreement.