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European Parliament votes to suspend Turkish membership talks

The European Parliament has voted by a large majority to suspend EU membership talks with Tu...
Newstalk
Newstalk

11.55 24 Nov 2016


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European Parliament votes to s...

European Parliament votes to suspend Turkish membership talks

Newstalk
Newstalk

11.55 24 Nov 2016


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The European Parliament has voted by a large majority to suspend EU membership talks with Turkey following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's reaction to July's failed coup.

This is a non-binding vote - and there are a number of EU countries who want the union to continue with the process of considering Turkey as a future member.

The MEPs' vote protested against the "disproportionate repressive measures" used by the Turkish president following the coup.

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The resolution continued, "Since the coup the authorities have arrested 10 opposition HDP (Turkey's Peoples' Democratic Party) members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, some 150 journalists – the highest number in the world.

"2,386 judges-prosecutors and 40 000 people have been detained and more than 31,000 remain under arrest, 129,000 public employees remain either suspended (66,000) or have been dismissed (63,000) [...] most of whom have had no charges brought against them to date."

The vote has already been described as "worthless" by Mr Erdogan according to the BBC.

"It sends a strong political signal from the parliament to EU leaders who will be meeting in mid-December that if they take European values seriously – and all this is happening in a candidate country – then it’s time to draw a red line," Dutch MEP Kati Piri told The Financial Times.

Fears over the prospect of Turkey joining the EU were highlighted by the 'out' side ahead of the UK's vote on EU membership.


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