Freezing Turkey's EU accession negotiations strikes against European values: EU minister
Turkey's EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik has once more slammed the European Parliament over its decision to suspend Turkey's accession negotiations and stressed that "proposing to freeze Turkey's negotiations during such times is striking against European values."
Speaking during a joint press conference in Ankara Tuesday following a one-on-one meeting with the U.K.'s Minister of State at the Department of International Trade, Lord Price, Minister Çelik praised Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland as "a good statesman" and dismissed claims of Turkey being put under a monitoring process, describing them as "baseless."
Meanwhile, with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) recently rejecting a demand for an urgent session on the latest developments in Turkey, Çelik stated that Turkey deserves applause from its European allies for its performance in defending its democracy against the July 15 failed coup attempt conducted by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Reminding members of the media that Europe will hold a number of elections in the coming months, Çelik stated that those elections are to redefine Europe's political map.
He also affirmed, "Even if Turkey does not become a European Union member, it will remain one of Europe's strongest historically, and has been a European democracy for 100 years."
Çelik underlined that despite all the developments in the EU, Turkey desires that Europe maintains its stability and order while continuing to remain strong.
However, due to some European institutions' controversial position against Turkey, Çelik had criticisms, saying that, "Decisions taken by the European Parliament have passed as blind decisions. At such a time, proposing to freeze negotiations with Turkey means a fight against European values. That decision does not hurt Turkey at all, however, it has shown how inadequate the representatives of the European Parliament for defending European values. This decision passed into history just like that… This decision is not a decision affecting Turkey's relations with the European Union. This decision shows the weakness of the European Parliament's capacity to carry European values."
Speaking during a joint press conference in Ankara Tuesday following a one-on-one meeting with the U.K.'s Minister of State at the Department of International Trade, Lord Price, Minister Çelik praised Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland as "a good statesman" and dismissed claims of Turkey being put under a monitoring process, describing them as "baseless."
Meanwhile, with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) recently rejecting a demand for an urgent session on the latest developments in Turkey, Çelik stated that Turkey deserves applause from its European allies for its performance in defending its democracy against the July 15 failed coup attempt conducted by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Reminding members of the media that Europe will hold a number of elections in the coming months, Çelik stated that those elections are to redefine Europe's political map.
He also affirmed, "Even if Turkey does not become a European Union member, it will remain one of Europe's strongest historically, and has been a European democracy for 100 years."
Çelik underlined that despite all the developments in the EU, Turkey desires that Europe maintains its stability and order while continuing to remain strong.
However, due to some European institutions' controversial position against Turkey, Çelik had criticisms, saying that, "Decisions taken by the European Parliament have passed as blind decisions. At such a time, proposing to freeze negotiations with Turkey means a fight against European values. That decision does not hurt Turkey at all, however, it has shown how inadequate the representatives of the European Parliament for defending European values. This decision passed into history just like that… This decision is not a decision affecting Turkey's relations with the European Union. This decision shows the weakness of the European Parliament's capacity to carry European values."