Turkey slams EU General Affairs Council decision

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA

Ankara on Wednesday slammed an anti-Turkey EU statement and called the bloc's stance "hypocrite and inconsistent".

The EU General Affairs Council after a Tuesday meeting said: "The Council notes that Turkey has been moving further away from the European Union. Turkey's accession negotiations have therefore effectively come to a standstill and no further chapters can be considered for opening or closing and no further work towards the modernisation of the EU-Turkey Customs Union is foreseen."

Responding to the council, Turkish Foreign Ministry said: "Claiming that our country is moving further away from the process despite EU's position is only hypocrisy and inconsistency."

The ministry added that the EU decision is biased and unfair.

"Though our country's candidate status is not harmed by the decision, we do not accept associating our membership process in 'EU Enlargement' matter with new conditions under a meaningless cause-effect relationship," added the ministry statement.

"It is impossible to understand associating the update of Customs Union to the criteria, when it would not only benefit our country but also the EU.

"We have seen once again that the EU does not treat Turkey fairly and honestly," the statement concluded.

Turkey's EU Minister Omer Celik in a series of tweets also criticized the EU decision and said: "Yesterday’s EU General Affairs Council Conclusions is of a historic nature as it displays how far the collective mind of the EU is confused."

He said the conclusion "lacks vision and is far from the facts and full of contradictions, also clearly shows that the EU has been held captive by an anti-Turkish mentality".

"The conclusions, which came out while Turkey has just concluded presidential and parliamentary elections, [when] a new era is about to start, and [the country is] on the verge of a huge reform process with the Presidential Administration System, demonstrates the extent of prejudices against Turkey," he added.

"With this conclusions, EU declares that it will not honor its commitments of 18 March statement.

"We cannot accept a selective type of relationship in which EU considers Turkey a key partner in the fields such as migration, terror, transport and energy which the EU benefits from but at the same time it refrains from honoring its promises and commitments," he said.

In March 2016, EU and Turkish leaders agreed to tackle irregular migration following the massive influx of migrants into the EU.

Celik affirmed Turkey's willingness to be part of the EU, noting that "an EU, where far-right is in power, and that is normalized and also moving further away from its own founding values will fall short of promising a future either for its members or its candidates."