Press Release Regarding the European Parliament’s 2019-2020 Report on Türkiye / Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The European Parliament’s (EP) 2019-2020 Report on Türkiye, which is a resolution, was adopted at Plenary on 19 May 2021.

This unilateral and by no means objective report, adopted in a period when efforts are made to revive Türkiye-EU relations on the basis of EU membership perspective within the framework of a positive agenda, is unacceptable.

We reject this biased text which not only includes false allegations regarding human rights, democracy, the rule of law, our governmental system and political parties; and views Türkiye's effective, solution-oriented, humanitarian and enterprising foreign policy as a threat; but also reflects the completely unfair and biased Greek and Greek Cypriot arguments regarding the Aegean, the Eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus issue and supports the one-sided and inconsistent Armenian narratives regarding the 1915 events.

We consider that the wording in the report which is trying to open the future of Türkiye's accession negotiations to discussion, reflects a lack of vision and an effort to deviate from the principle of pacta sunt servanda. It is well known by the EU institutions and the EP members that the standstill in Türkiye's accession negotiations is not due to Türkiye’s lack of will for reforms or any shortcoming in assuming the EU acquis, but, rather, to the fact that certain circles have exploited the membership process as an opportunity for political gains against Türkiye since the beginning of this process.

EU membership is a strategic goal for Türkiye and will be beneficial for all of Europe and beyond. Türkiye will decisively continue its efforts in line with this objective.

While the EU expresses its appreciation for our efforts, particularly with regard to migration issue, within the scope of the Türkiye-EU Statement of 18 March 2016, for which we have fulfilled our commitments, the EU should get out of the vicious circle of not taking any concrete step to fulfil its own commitments in the 18 March Statement, ranging from Türkiye’s EU accession process to cooperation on migration.

As a candidate country, Türkiye expects the EP to carry out constructive efforts about how the relations can be improved with Türkiye and how it can contribute to Türkiye's EU integration process, rather than being a platform for baseless allegations and blind accusations against Türkiye.