On Thursday 21 February, spokesperson of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hami Aksoy, criticised the vote the day before by MEPs in the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the report by Kati Piri (S&D, the Netherlands) calling for the formal suspension of Turkey's European Union accession negotiations.
"It is absolutely unacceptable that the non-binding, advisory draft report is calling for a total suspension of our talks on accession to the EU", he said in a statement. He expected that “the necessary corrections would be made and that the final report would be more realistic, impartial and encouraging". "Only such a report will be taken into consideration by our country", he warned.
Ms Piri's report, which also calls for a redefinition of the relationship between the EU and Turkey, was adopted in committee by 47 votes to 7 with 10 abstentions. It is expected to be put to a vote at the first plenary session in March, between 11 and 14 March.
This is not the first time that the European Parliament has called for the suspension of negotiations due to the situation regarding the rule of law in Turkey (see EUROPE 11823). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)