BRUSSELS — Brussels voiced its strongest criticism yet of the surge in violence in EU candidate Turkey, calling for a renewed peace effort with the Kurds and expressing its concern about the dramatic curtailing of press freedoms.
While the European Commission praised Ankara for taking in millions of Syrians in its annual report of the country’s progress towards EU membership, it also had blunt advice for President Tayyip Erdogan and its newly re-elected AK Party.
“The Commission hopes to see an end to the escalating violence in Turkey and the return to negotiations on a lasting solution on the Kurdish issue,” Johannes Hahn, the commissioner in charge of EU enlargement, told the European Parliament.
“In the past year, significant shortcomings affected the independence of the judiciary as well as freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, in particular as regards increased pressure and intimidation of journalists ” Hahn said.
The report, which was delayed until after Turkey’s Nov.1 elections in a gesture towards Erdogan, showed the extremely delicate task facing the European Union as it seeks urgent help from Ankara with its biggest migration in decades.
Given the deterioration on human rights, there are concerns NATO member Turkey even still meets the criteria to become a member of the European Union, world’s biggest trading bloc, the EU executive. Hahn also said judicial independence was crucial for investors. “No one wants to risk their money unless they can depend on the independence of the judiciary,” he said.
The report also said it had worries about the political ambitions of Erdogan, Turkey’s most popular politician who is now president after a decade as prime minister, and is widely seen as wanted to turn the presidency into a powerful, US-style executive.
In the diplomatic language of a statement accompanying its annual report, the Commission said: “Turkey continued to express its commitment to EU accession. This commitment was, however, offset by the adoption of key legislation in the area of the rule of law, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly that ran against European standards.”
It also said that “the president remained engaged in a wide range of key domestic and foreign policy issues, which led within Turkey to criticism that he was overstepping constitutional prerogatives.”
