EP Passes Motion to Freeze Accession Negotiations With Turkey

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The European Parliament (AP) has passed the motion for a resolution, suggesting a temporary freeze of the on-going accession negotiations, which started on September 3, 2005, between Turkey and the European Union (EU).

The motion was passed with 479 yes votes against 37 no votes out of 623 votes in total. There were 107 abstain votes.

European Parliament has shared the results of the voting on Twitter as follows:

Call by EP to temporary freeze accession talks with #Turkey adopted by large majority pic.twitter.com/7nLCY18T9j

— Kati Piri (@KatiPiri) 24 Kasım 2016

What is in the motion?

The European Union in the final version of the motion has condemned "the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt in July 2016". It has also calls on the Commission and on the Member States to initiate a temporary freeze of the on-going accession negotiations with Turkey.

In addition, the motion also declares that the Parliament would "review its position when the disproportionate measures under the state of emergency in Turkey are lifted; would base its review on whether the rule of law and human rights are restored throughout the country.

Noting that the "re-introduction of the capital punishment by the Turkish government would have to lead to a formal suspension of the accession process", the notion pointed out that Turkey has not yet fulfilled 7 out of 72 benchmarks of the visa liberalisation roadmap.

The motion calls on the Commission "to reflect on the latest developments in Turkey in the mid-term review report of IPA foreseen in 2017" and asked the Commission to "examine the possibility of increasing support to Turkish civil society from the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights".

Motion advisory for the European Union

The European Parliament discussed on freezing the on-going accession negotiations with Turkey in the session "EU-Turkey Relations".

The joint motion for a resolution on EU-Turkey relations was voted today.

The Parliament alone is not authorized to freeze, suspend or stop the negotiations.

The final decision will be made by the leaders of the European Union who will gather in December. The Motion on the other hand can influence the decision to be made in the meeting of the European Union. (AS/DG)