European External Action Service spokesperson Peter Stano explained on Monday 25 October that the EU was taking note and very closely following the announcement made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that ten ambassadors, including six from EU member states, were deemed ‘persona non grata’.
A few days earlier, ambassadors from France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and the United States had called for the urgent release of philanthropist Osman Kavala (see EUROPE 12429/22), in accordance with the 2019 European Court of Human Rights judgment.
When asked whether the EU would declare the Turkish ambassador to the EU ‘persona non grata’, Mr Stano said that it was not wise to anticipate events since the Turkish decision had not yet been officially notified to the ten countries in question.
In front of the MEPs of the EU/Turkey parliamentary delegation to the European Parliament, and as he had done just a few minutes earlier during an in camera session in the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, the acting Director General of the European Commission’s Neighbourhood and Enlargement directorate, Maciej Popowski, said he was “concerned” about the situation, adding that this was not an internal issue, but a matter of complying with a judgment handed down by the European Court of Human Rights.
“Our task would become increasingly difficult if Turkey were to put itself at odds with our Member States”, he added. Mr Popowski noted that the EU Council had to give the European Commission a mandate to work on the modernisation of the Customs Union, which is done unanimously. “We have to react whenever a Member State is targeted”, warned the Director General.
The European Parliament rapporteur on Turkey, Nacho Sánchez Amor (S&D, Spain), and the chair of the EU-Turkey parliamentary delegation, Sergey Lagodinsky (Greens/EFA, Germany), also denounced the announcements made by the Turkish President, calling them “incomprehensible and totally unfounded”. “We can only interpret them as an attempt to divert attention from the very real pressing issues, whether those are domestic or bilateral”, he added.
According to MEPs, it would still be possible to avoid a “serious diplomatic crisis”. They have therefore called on the Turkish authorities to not take any measures that might lead to an even worse scenario for EU/Turkey relations.
“We urge the EU to coordinate a joint response and, as far as possible, to encourage our Turkish counterparts to de-escalate this”, they added. They were given support from their colleagues in the parliamentary delegation, who called for there to be a much stronger reaction to Mr Erdoğan’s actions. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)