EU Foreign Ministers meet to discuss Turkey

EU Foreign Ministers gathered together yesterday in Brussels for a 2-day summit. Today, the ministers will discuss the situation in Turkey. 

According to BBC Turkish, the first item of the meeting is the situation in Turkey.

On the official website of EU, it is stated that the ministers will exchange views regarding the recent developments in Turkey. It is also stated that the exchange will follow the written declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the latest developments in Turkey which released on 8 November 2016.

In this statement, it was declared that “The EU and its Member States are following the most recent developments in Turkey with grave concern.”

The second item in this statement is as the following: “Renewed considerations to introduce a bill to parliament to reinstate the death penalty; continued restrictions on the freedom of expression, including social media, with further closures of media outlets and arrest warrants against journalists, including the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper and several members of its staff; and most recently the arrest of the co-chairs of the country's second largest opposition party, HDP, as well as the detention of several of its Members of Parliament are extremely worrying developments which weaken the rule of law, the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and compromise parliamentary democracy in Turkey, while exacerbating tensions in the Southeast and further polarising Turkish society in general.”

After Luxembourg suggested economic sanctions against Turkey, EU started to discuss what kind of an attitude should be adopted regarding Turkey. It is expected that the ministers will agree on a common attitude in today's meeting.

Speaking to Reuters, an official from EU said: “The suspension of the accession negotiations with Turkey is not on the agenda officially. However, we expect that some ministers will bring this issue forward.”