Should the EU suspend Turkey’s accession negotiations?

Expert Comment (The Elcano Royal Institute) 69/2014, 17 December 2014
Real Instituto Elcano de Estudios Internacionales y Estratégicos

William Chislett *

The arrest of Turkish journalists, media executives and even the scriptwriter of a popular television series, ostensibly for ‘forming, leading and being a member of an armed terrorist organisation’, brought a swift rebuke from the European Commission and raised the question of whether Turkey’s EU painfully slow accession negotiations should be suspended.

Federica Mogherini, EU Foreign Affairs chief, and Johannes Hahn, Enlargement Commissioner, said the raids and arrests ‘are incompatible with the freedom of media, which is a core principle of democracy’. They said Turkey’s move towards membership depended on ‘full respect for the rule of law and fundamental rights’.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan responded to the criticism in his characteristically abrasive style, telling the EU to ‘mind its own business and keep its opinions to itself’.

* William Chislett is Associate Analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute | @WilliamChislet3

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