Brussels, 06/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 5 December, the S&D members of the delegation of the European Parliament to the joint EU-Turkey parliamentary committee criticised the attitude of the official representation of the Turkish government during their 73rd meeting in Ankara.
In a press release, the members of the S&D Group stated that the Turkish representatives refused to discuss issues of democratisation during the first day of their meeting - as they did issues of fundamental rights (a few months after the events of Gezi which were much criticised by the European Parliament) and the new situation in the Middle East. According to the S&D MEPs, Turkey's Minister for European Affairs and negotiator-in-chief Egemen Bagis, and the leader of Turkey's Grand National Assembly, Cemil Cicek, strongly criticised the European Parliament. What is more, the co-leader of the committee and member of the AKP, Afif Demirkiran, left the meeting before the exchange of views.
“The unacceptable situation today, with all the Turkish officials leaving the meeting, does not help ease the tensions between the Turkish government and the European Parliament that we have seen since last summer”, said Maria Eleni Koppa MEP (Greece). “The existence of the joint parliamentary committee with Turkey, as with other EU accession countries, is precisely to enable dialogue to resolve differences of understanding and to build progress together”, added Richard Howitt MEP (UK). The leader of the European Parliament's delegation to the committee, Hélène Flautre MEP (Greens/EFA, France), could not be reached by telephone on Friday 6 December.
The permanent delegation of Turkey stated on Twitter on 6 December that “there is always a lively debate at the joint parliamentary committee between the Turkish and European members of parliament”. This was the first meeting of the committee since the opening of the negotiating chapter on regional policy on 5 November (see EUROPE 10957). (CG/transl.fl)