EU report slams Turkey over rule of law, free speech

The EU accused Turkey today of backsliding on the rule of law, rights and the media, calling on the new government to take urgent action in a sensitive report that Brussels held back until after elections.

The scathing report on Ankara’s EU candidacy, originally due for release before the vote that returned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party to power, praised Turkey for housing Syrian refugees and for cooperating on the migration crisis. But it was severely critical of the domestic situation in Muslim majority Turkey, saying that under Erdogan there had been “serious backsliding” on freedom of expression and that the judiciary had been undermined. 

“The report emphasises an overall negative trend in the respect for the rule of law and fundamental rights,” said a summary of the report’s key findings by the European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive arm. Turkey’s commitment to joining the 28-nation bloc was “offset” by domestic actions that “ran against European standards”, it added. “The new government formed after the repeat election on 1 November will need to address these urgent priorities,” the summary said.