Turkish human rights record will keep it out of the European Union [View all]

[another_liberal]

Anyone who reads the international news about such things knows that Turkish President Erdogan's recent big victory at the polls was immediately preceded by a crackdown on (and arrests of) many of his political opponents, especially journalists. While that alone would raise eyebrows in EU human rights circles, the current mass, violent arrests of anti-government demonstrators and the Turkish military occupation of parts of Northwestern Iraq only further diminish Turkey's hopes to soon become a member state of the European Union.

Police use pepper spray against demonstrators during a protest over the arrest of journalists in Ankara, Turkey, November 27, 2015 (Reuters)


'No human rights policy discount for Turkey' declares top German civil liberties official


Turkey must improve its human rights record before it can justify admission to the EU, claims Germany’s Human Rights Commissioner Christoph Strässer, adding that under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the situation in the country has "deteriorated" drastically.

Asked whether the EU will make any concessions for Ankara's membership, Strässer replied: “This concern drives me. There can be no human rights policy discount for Turkey. We must not be generous towards Turkey just because presently we cooperate more with it. The EU must stick to its crystal-clear strict rules with respect to human rights and press freedom,” he told Germany's N24 news website. Turkey first sought EU membership back in 1987, but its bid has made little progress since then, with key issues like fundamental freedoms and the future of Cyprus proving to be major obstacles.

“It seems to me that Turkey is trying to use the situation in Syria and its geopolitical tussle with Russia in order to bring this potential EU membership back on the agenda,” journalist Bryan MacDonald noted, sharing his opinion on Turkish membership in the EU with RT. “However, I think it is ‘pie in the sky’ - it is just kind words they are getting from the EU because they are useful to NATO and the EU at the moment. I don’t see any possibility that 80 million Turks who are Muslims in a largely Christian EU will ever be allowed to join the organization,” he added.

(snip)

Erdogan’s regime used “state security” as an excuse to cover up its smuggling of arms into Syria and persecute the journalists who revealed it, the imprisoned editor-in-chief of the Turkish Cumhuriyet newspaper, Can Dundar, wrote in the Guardian on Tuesday. “Turkey’s regime not only smuggled guns into Syria, it used ‘state security’ as an excuse to imprison the journalists who reported it,” Dundar wrote.

(snip)

Read more at: https://www.rt.com/news/327533-germany-turkey-eu-membership/