MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on EU-Turkey relations
22.11.2016 - (2016/2993(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 123(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Marine Le Pen, Marcel de Graaff, Harald Vilimsky, Mireille D’Ornano, Edouard Ferrand, Mario Borghezio, Gerolf Annemans, Janice Atkinson, Marcus Pretzell, Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, Laurenţiu Rebega, Michał Marusik, Matteo Salvini on behalf of the ENF Group
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the statement of 22 November 2016 by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on EU-Turkey relations,
– having regard to Rule 123(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the situation in Turkey with regard to democracy and fundamental rights has deteriorated considerably since the beginning of the accession negotiations in 2005;
B. whereas the Turkish Government is abusing the state of emergency and the failed coup attempt of 15 July 2016 to severely restrict freedom of speech, media freedom and democratic rights in general;
C. whereas, according to Reporters without Borders, 89 journalists were arrested during the first six weeks of the state of emergency, 104 media outlets were closed and over 2 300 journalists subsequently lost their jobs, and at least 330 journalists had their press accreditation revoked; whereas countless other journalists are currently in detention in police holding cells, have been detained and released without charge, or have not yet been detained but have had a detention warrant issued against them;
D. whereas numerous systematic violations of press freedom also occurred before the failed coup attempt and the subsequent state of emergency, the most notorious cases being the investigation in May 2015 on grounds of terrorism and espionage of the newspaper Cumhuriyet for having posted a video and news report showing trucks laden with weapons for jihadists in Syria, the arrest of that newspaper’s editor Can Dündar and journalist Erdem Gül in November, the police raid on the Ipek Media Group’s TV stations and newspapers and the firing of the group’s journalists in October 2015, and the government takeover of the newspaper Zaman in March 2016;
E. whereas these Turkish violations of media freedoms have also affected citizens of European countries, such as the German satirist Jan Böhmermann and the Dutch journalist Ebru Umar;
F. whereas thousands of websites are currently being blocked in Turkey; whereas, according to Human Rights Watch, the Turkish authorities were responsible for almost three quarters of worldwide requests to Twitter for the removal of tweets and the blocking of accounts in the first six months of 2015;
G. whereas Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, the joint leaders of the opposition party HDP, have been arrested, along with ten other members of parliament;
H. whereas the arrest and suspension of thousands of judges and prosecutors has seriously compromised the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers;
I. whereas Turkey refuses to reconsider its illegal military occupation since 1974 of the northern part of Cyprus; whereas Turkey refuses to recognise the Republic of Cyprus or to fulfil its obligations with regard to the Ankara protocol;
J. whereas religious minorities are being systematically persecuted or discriminated against;
K. whereas the Turkish Government has decided to delegate decision-making powers to the Prime Minister on the appointment of chancellors of public and private universities;
L. whereas the Turkish Government has provided aid and weapons to jihadist groups in Syria, and continues to do so;
M. whereas the Turkish Government is threatening to let three million migrants enter the EU with the objective of obtaining visa exemption for Turkish citizens;
N. whereas Turkey has received a total of almost EUR 10 billion in the framework of pre‑accession assistance between 2005 and 2016;
O. whereas numerous opinion polls in most Member States indicate that an overwhelming majority of citizens are opposed to Turkey joining the EU;
1. Calls on the Council to put an end to the negotiations on Turkish accession to the EU;
2. Calls on the Council to put an immediate end to all payments to Turkey in the framework of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance;
3. Calls on the Member States to define their own relationship with Turkey for the future;
4. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States and the Government of Turkey.