Kati Piri, on behalf of the S&D Group. – Madam President, as EU—Turkey relations have been put on the agenda of the next European Council meeting, I believe it is good to reiterate this Parliament’s position. This House has been speaking out loudly and clearly when it comes to the serious violations of fundamental rights in Turkey. Despite our many political differences and our diverging views on EU—Turkey relations, we have been united in our condemnation of rights abuses.
In July – two months ago – we called for the formal suspension of the accession talks if the constitutional amendments were implemented unchanged. The situation in Turkey continues to be worrying, but there have been no developments in the last two months that would cause us to change the position we took two months ago. We also expect EU leaders to come forward with a clear and united response in October. The EU’s credibility is at stake when it comes to the accession talks with Turkey.
At the same time, it is important to keep making a distinction between the Turkish Government and the Turkish population. In this respect, let me clearly state that the European Parliament never called for the withdrawal of the candidate status of Turkey nor for the shutting of all doors of communication. Taking away the European perspective from the Turkish people once and for all would be a grave mistake.
However, the real question at hand is not whether Turkey can or cannot one day become a member of a future European Union. This is a theoretical debate. The real question at stake is: what we can do to reverse the current authoritarian trend in Turkey and how can we continue to support the millions of people in Turkey who believe in the same values? This is why I believe that starting negotiations on an upgraded customs union would be a first important step, although of course things need to improve first. Another important tool for the EU would be to continue financial support for civil society in Turkey. We must ensure that populism and xenophobia do not take over this debate. The Turkish people deserve our solidarity in difficult times.
(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 162(8))