IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu issued a statement concerning the Turkey Report presented on 19 October 2021 as part of the 2021 Enlargement Package comprising of the Enlargement Strategy and Country Reports for candidate and potential candidate countries. The statement reads as follows:

“The annual country reports and the Enlargement Strategy prepared by the European Commission were presented on 19 October 2021. As IKV, we paid a working visit to Brussels on 13 and 14 October and met with senior officials including Commissioner Oliver Várhelyi who is in charge of the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations responsible for drafting the Turkey Report. We stressed the importance of maintaining Turkey’s EU accession perspective and provided information on the work we perform as a civil society organisation to contribute to the process. Commissioner Várhelyi is aware of Turkey’s importance for the EU and supports advancing the relations in areas other than migration and security such as climate, trade, energy and transport. However, the overall lack of will concerning Turkey’s EU accession is also reflected on the Commission’s position. While emphasizing that Turkey remains a candidate for accession, developments such as placing Turkey within the same directorate as the Southern Neighbours creates the impression that Turkey’s EU candidacy status is being disregarded and Turkey is being treated as a neighbouring country instead.”

IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu clarified some of the points made in the report:

“The report released today forms part of the monitoring process as a requirement stemming from Turkey’s candidacy status. Although the report evaluates Turkey's progress in terms of fulfilling the EU membership criteria and legislative alignment, it fails to make recommendations on how to revive the accession negotiations and improve the relations. It can be observed that the report is drafted in a tone as if Turkey were the only party responsible for the interruption of the process while there is no mention of the obligations falling upon the EU and the Member States. Concerning the existing problems in the Customs Union, various issues such as certain technical barriers, implementation of local content requirements and deviations from the EU’s common customs tariff were mentioned. The fact that significant issues such as obstacles in Turkey’s exports to the EU, transport quotas, the negative effects of Turkey being left out of the EU’s free trade agreements, and the failure to launch the Customs Union modernisation process were not being addressed stands out as an important shortcoming. While it was noted that the Turkish economy was recovering rapidly after the COVID-19 pandemic, some structural problems and imbalances were also included in the report. Although the ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement by the GNAT was welcomed, the report mentioned the need for alignment in environment and climate policies. Turkey’s withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention and shortcomings in law, democracy and fundamental rights in Turkey were also emphasized. However, it should be noted that Chapter 23 on judiciary and fundamental rights could not be opened in Turkey's EU accession negotiations and it is blocked by the Greek Cypriot Administration. While the de-escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean was mentioned in a positive tone, the continuation of the completely discriminatory approach towards Turkey’s Aegean and Cyprus policies and the disregard for Turkey’s legitimate arguments undermine the EU’s possible contribution to peace and security in the region. We expect the European Commission to take more responsibility for Turkey’s EU accession process to gain impetus and proceed on a positive trajectory. In addition, we think that as Turkey, we should continue to do our part and work resolutely to fulfil the membership criteria, particularly the EU political criteria.”