EP Turkey rapporteur Amor: “Turkish democracy has simply disappeared”

Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s (EP) Turkey rapporteur, spoke to Euronews about relations between Turkey and the European Union (EU). Amor said that the accession negotiations with Ankara, which began in 2005, had not contributed to the development of democracy in Turkey. Answering questions from Euronews, the Turkey rapporteur stressed that the country had regressed in terms of democracy and human rights.

Asked by the Euronews anchor for his thoughts on Erdogan’s demands regarding EU membership, Amor replied: “It was a little bit surprising, really, because the change of mood in president Erdogan’s stance is very normal, let’s say. But to confuse the Swedish accession to NATO with Turkey’s EU membership was completely unexpected. And it’s not possible, because there are two different channels, there are two different organizations with two different rationales.”

EP Turkey rapporteur underlined that any country of the EU had to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria. He further said that if the EU had to assess the current situation in Turkey, there are no changes and no reforms. On the contrary, it is going completely backwards in terms of human rights and the rule of law. And according to Amor, this is the core of the accession process.

Amor continued the interview with the following comments: “The restart of negotiations depends on the Turkish government, and they are fully aware of that. Every report from the parliament, every report from the commission, every report from dozens of think tanks around the world said that the Turkish democracy of 20 years ago has simply disappeared. Now there is a clear trend towards an autocracy, especially after the referendum changing the constitution. So yes, it is on Turkey’s side, and President Erdogan knows very well what he has to do. He has to release Kavala and he has to release Demirtas. He has to comply with the court ruling of the ECHR. He has to stop inhibiting the accession of the HDP mayors to their positions and he has to release the journalists.”

Amor also stressed that he didn’t understand Turkey’s lack of compliance: “Even if President Erdogan or the AKP consider that the ruling is not right, they have to apply and comply with the court’s ruling. Even if they consider that this person could be dangerous, they have to comply, in both cases, Kavala and Demirtas. What appears, when you have such clear court rulings, is that this reluctance seems to be a political stance, not a legal one.”

On the question whether the negotiations have improved Turkey’s democracy, equality and human rights, the EP rapporteur was explicit: “No, that’s clear. This is one of my concerns. The accession process has not been conducive to impulse reforms. Because there is no political will. The accession process is functional if there is political will. I know this because it was my personal experience in my country. If there is no political will to become a democracy, it will not advance. We are maintaining the accession process frozen, just in case some dramatic changes happen, but at the same time we are committed and we have asked the other EU institutions to look for another framework. But if the accession process is not functional, and in my view is becoming dysfunctional, then we really have to look for another format. The accession process is related to membership and membership is related to the level of democracy. And this is not going to change.”