On Thursday 22 September, the representative to the EU of Turkey's Republican People's Party (CHP), Kader Sevinc, said she wished the EU had a greater presence in Turkey.
Stating that Turkish people's support for EU accession was weak, she thought that the EU should be more involved in Turkey. "We need a stronger presence in Turkey. The European delegation should be strengthened. And there is a need for more offices, that are more visible, throughout Anatolia, in order to give the people information and create a dialogue" with different segments of Turkish society, Sevinc said at a conference organised by EPC on the failed coup in Turkey. In her opinion, if the level of support is low, it is also due to the fact that the EU is not fulfilling its promises. "The decrease in support is due to the way the EU is managing to lose the trust of the Turks", she added, believing that, "if the EU was coherent, if it kept its promises", "support would be much stronger". In Sevninc's view, therefore, "the EU should review its approach to Turkey". "The EU-Turkey policy and its implementation are a failure. The EU's policy towards Turkey needs to be reinvented and reformulated, always keeping in mind that the goal of the negotiations is full and complete accession", she said.
Sevinc called for the opening of Accession Chapters 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and 24 (freedom, security and justice) – the opening of which is being blocked by Cyprus. In her opinion, opening these chapters would not mean giving a "present to the authorities", but would enable clear guidelines for making the reforms that are needed. Sevinc also stated that three negotiation chapters were not blocked and could therefore be opened without further delay: the chapters on social policy and employment (19), public procurement (5) and competition (8). "They are very important for democracy because they are linked to the quality of the democracy", she said.
Although Sevinc said she supported visa waivers for all Turks, she added that, while waiting for all the criteria to be fulfilled (the most problematic of which is the change to counter-terrorism legislation), some segments of the population, such as business people and students, should already be able to benefit from these waivers. In addition, Sevinc criticised the attitude of certain member states towards the PKK. Although the PKK is considered a terrorist organisation, according to Sevinc, PKK flags have been brandished on several occasions during demonstrations in Europe, and portraits of its leaders displayed. Sevinc wondered if the response of the European authorities would be the same if the flags of al-Qaeda or so-called Islamic State were used. She asked those who supported the removal of the PKK from the European list of terrorist organisations to act "responsibly". (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)