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Strasbourg 13/09/2016
Taking the floor in Strasbourg, vice-chair on the Parliament's Turkey Delegation, Takis Hadjigeorgiou, condemned the seemingly free pass given to the Turkish president by the EU in purging his opponents:
“The situation in Turkey may indeed be very complex but the EU and its representatives seem to be adopting a position towards the ruling power that can only be described as flexible. Softly, softly, if you will.”
“We don’t want to give the impression to President Erdoğan that he can just continue on this anti-democratic path.”
“Thousands of people have already lost their jobs – many judges are no longer in their courts, for example. University professors have been dismissed, too. If we can criticise Poland – a fellow member state – for its recent developments then when we must do the same to a country that wants to join the Union,” concluded the Cypriot MEP.
Equally damning was Basque MEP Josu Juaristi, who highlighted the plight of the Kurdish population as one reason for the EU to rein in Erdoğan’s action:
“The bombings against the Kurdish civil population; the offensive against the PKK; 11500 teachers already dismissed….once again, we call upon the Council to do a lot more uphold the fundamental and human rights of one of its main partners.”
‘If we fail to do anything concrete, then it’ll all just be hot air. Much, much more is required – you only have to look at the aerial photos of what’s happening on the ground to appreciate just how bad the situation is,” said Juaristi.
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European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)
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