MEPs denounced, on Thursday 8 July, the repression of Turkish opposition parties, in particular the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a repression “which undermines the proper functioning of the democratic system”.
“The case of the dissolution of the HDP is the culmination of a multi-year crackdown on the party that has seen thousands of party members, officials, MPs, councillors and mayors put on trial, mainly on terrorism-related charges”, MEPs (see EUROPE 12664/34) said in a joint resolution by the S&D, The Left, Greens/EFA, Renew Europe and EPP groups, adopted at the plenary session (603 votes in favour, 2 against, 67 abstentions).
The Parliament also denounces the “recurrent” use of revoking the parliamentary status of opposition MPs, “which seriously damages the image of the Turkish Parliament as a democratic institution”.
The Turkish government must put an end to this repression and ensure that all political parties in the country can freely and fully exercise their legitimate activities, in accordance with the fundamental principles of a pluralist and democratic system, the European Parliament stressed. It said the “serious setback” to the freedom of operation of opposition parties “reveals the disastrous human rights situation in Turkey and the continuing erosion of democracy and the Rule of law, in violation of the Copenhagen criteria”.
Thus, while the EU has proposed a ‘positive agenda’ to Ankara, the Parliament warns that in addition to improvements in foreign policy, progress on such an agenda “should also depend on the improvement of the civil and human rights situation and the Rule of law in the country” (see EUROPE 12721/5).
See the resolution: https://bit.ly/3qUUlxb (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)