Turkey: Give us a ‘fair’ shot at EU accession

Turkey should be given a “fair” shot at becoming a member of the European Union, according to its Brussels-based ambassador Faruk Kaymakci.

Treating Ankara’s bid based on accession rules rather than “deviations from the rule based order” would be in the interest of both Turks and Europeans, Ambassador Kaymakci told Brussels Signal.

He was reacting to the vote by the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, which concluded that “Turkey was now no longer welcome to join the EU after its continued deterioration of democratic standards.”

MEPs were critical of what they saw was the politically motivated removal from office of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the main rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

They condemned Erdoğan’s government for what they called its sustained targeting of opposition parties and political figures, warning the country was now veering towards “a fully authoritarian model”, with “serious restrictions on fundamental freedoms – in particular, the freedoms of expression and assembly”.

Reacting to the committee vote, Kaymakci said: “At the time of many uncertainties and attempts of deviations from the rule based order in our European continent and beyond, what would be in the best interest of the EU and Turkey is that despite all challenges on both sides, Council of Europe member and NATO ally Turkey should be treated fairly on the EU accession process with other candidate countries.

“The stronger the accession perspective and EU anchoring are, the faster the EU reforms and alignments as well as the more progressive democracies in the candidate countries including Turkey.

“We hope to see a visionary approach from the EU institutions and the member states with balanced and encouraging steps and policies towards Turkish reform and accession process for a stronger, enlarged and global actor EU to the benefits of all of us in Europe and beyond.”