EC: Turkey steps away from bloc, backs seriously from democracy

The European Commission confirmed that the negotiations with Turkey on its accession to the European Union are facing an impasse due to its ongoing stepping away from the bloc and its dangerous decline with regards to democracy.

6 October, 2020 17:14

NEWS DESK

"Turkey continuously moving away from the European Union with its dangerous retreat in areas such as democracy, the dominance of law, fundamental rights and the independence of the judicial system," the European Commission said in an annual report issued today, Tuesday.

It emphasized that "negotiations on Turkey's accession to the EU have practically entered into an impasse, and no new chapters can be considered."

The EC, the EU’s executive body, put the blame on the deteriorating conditions in the areas of freedom of expression, prisons and the central bank on the “over-centralization” of presidential power, and said that the government was also exposing Turkey to “rapid changes in investor sentiment.”

"The dangerous decline monitored in Turkey since the coup attempt in 2016 has continued," the European Commission added.

(A)

ANHA