IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu evaluated this year’s draft EP Turkey Report, following MEP Kati Piri’s revelations regarding the report.

“The report which was announced by the Rapporteur Kati Piri via her Twitter account could only be considered a draft as yet. When we take a look at the report as an initial draft, it is obvious to see that the rapporteur tries to reach a compromise reflecting the preferences of different political groups in the EP.

Within the report, there is a call for the Commission and the Member States to officially suspend accession negotiations with Turkey. Yet, a dialogue with Turkey on democracy  is recommended and the use of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) during this process is advocated. However as these funds are normally channeled to prepare a country for the membership goal, there is no way Turkey can benefit from these funds after the suspension of accession negotiations. Therefore, we see this proposal as a contradictory one.

The report includes the criticism that the accession negotiations have not been sustained as an effective tool because of the vetoes in the EU Council. The report also leaves the door open for the modernisation of Customs Union. We welcome this specific recommendation.

The importance of visa liberalisation for all Turkish citizens is emphasised in the report and bringing the process to a positive conclusion after the fulfilment of all remaining criteria is also underlined.

Considering the fact that EP stands as one of the institutions giving the last call on that issue, we see the positive attitude coming from the EP side as a significant development for the visa process.

Even though the suspension proposal is presented as a result of Turkey’s divergence from the EU norms, consequently it would be for the benefit of the rising far right trends in the EU.

Taking the state of play of the EU politics into account, it is obvious that once suspension decision is taken, it would be really difficult to come a point where the negotiations would be recommenced with the consensus of all Member States. Hence suspending negotiations would mean the disappearance of Turkey’s EU objective completely. Considering the suggestions such as privileged partnership are nonsense, dropping the membership objective off the agenda is likely to destroy Turkey-EU relations and endanger the region’s security.

What is more, it is clear that this kind of sanctions will not encourage Turkey for reforms; instead they will alienate Turkey from the EU. We are concerned and disappointed by the draft report’s non-constructive recommendation putting the suspension of the negotiations forth.