The recent European Parliament report on Türkiye is one-sided and not objective, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said Wednesday, after the European Union said Ankara’s accession process "cannot resume under the current circumstances."
"We regret to see that the report is far from evaluating the current reform works in Türkiye and the developments in the fields of human rights and rule of law objectively and based on data," Tunç wrote on social media.
The European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee adopted the report on Tuesday by 47 votes in favor, no votes against and 10 abstentions.
"Türkiye’s alignment rate with the EU’s Common foreign and security policy has slipped to an all-time low of 7%, making it by far the lowest of all enlargement countries," the report highlighted.
Saying that "a drastic change of course by the Turkish government" is needed for progress on EU accession, the report underlined that new ways of cooperation should be explored.
"It should be noted that the report in question was written unilaterally, under the influence of some marginalized circles, as we have seen frequently in EU circles in recent years. We hope that the aforementioned approach of the Committee will be abandoned by the EP General Assembly and a more objective, fair, consistent, data-based and scientific approach prepared for our country will be adopted," Tunç commented, saying that Türkiye will continue to emphasize human rights and the rule of law.
The report comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently ahead of a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania called on the EU to revive accession talks.
"First, let’s pave the way for Türkiye in the EU, and then we will pave the way for Sweden just as we did for Finland," the president said. Türkiye is expected to vote on Sweden’s NATO membership when Parliament reopens in autumn.
"Türkiye was kept waiting at the door of the European Union for over 50 years while almost all NATO members are EU members," Erdoğan lamented.
However, Türkiye Rapporteur Nacho Sánchez Amor said at the EP session: "We have recently seen a renewed interest from the Turkish government in reviving the EU accession process. This will not happen because of geopolitical bargaining, but when Turkish authorities show real interest in stopping the continuous backsliding in fundamental freedoms and the rule of law."
"If the Turkish government is sincere in this, they should show it with concrete reforms and actions," Amor added.
Türkiye has the longest history with the union and the longest negotiation process. The country signed an association agreement with the EU’s predecessor in 1964, the European Economic Community (EEC), which is usually regarded as a first step to eventually becoming a candidate. Applying for official candidacy in 1987, Türkiye had to wait until 1999 to be granted the status of a candidate country. For the start of the negotiations, however, Türkiye had to wait for another six years, until 2005, a uniquely long process compared with other candidates.