AKEL MEP G.Georgiou: Turkey must prove its objectives vis-à-vis the EU

 

24 November 2021, Cyprus News Agency CNA

Turkey must prove its objectives towards the EU with tangible and consistent actions, avoid any provocative actions that violate the sovereignty and sovereign rights of other member states, as well as demonstrate goodwill in the negotiations for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem, Giorgos Georgiou, AKEL MEP of the Left Group in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL, told CNA.

G.Georgiou was responding to a question on the most important issue with which he deals with as a member of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee AFET. He said that he is the shadow Rapporteur of the Progress Report on Turkey on behalf of the Left Group and he is also a member of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee.”

According to G. Georgiou, “although EU-Turkey relations have deteriorated to such an extent that they need to be reassessed in depth, a fact which is also pointed out in the last Progress Report on Turkey adopted last year, nevertheless dialogue between the two partners is inevitable”.

Therefore, the AKEL MEP said, “at the October Plenary, the European Commission, through the Enlargement Commissioner, presented its main findings on Turkey, thus marking the start of the process for the EU-Turkey 2021 Report”.

In its findings, he noted, “the Commission is damning”.

It acknowledges, he said, “the existence of serious deficiencies in the functioning of Turkey’s democratic institutions and notes that the democratic accountability of the executive power remains limited in elections.”

Similarly negative, G.Georgiou noted, “is its position on the issue of human and fundamental rights, but also on a number of other issues such as migration, the ability to fulfill EU accession obligations, the situation in the south-eastern region, the fight against corruption and organised crime, the judiciary and public administration reforms.”

As regards Turkey’s foreign policy, the Commission describes it as increasingly dynamic to the extent that it clashes with its priorities.

With regards to Cyprus, the European Commission makes particular reference to Turkey’s provocative actions and escalating rhetoric in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as to Turkey’s unacceptable unilateral decisions to change the status of the fenced off city of Varosha, which it strongly denounced.

“Considering the above, and bearing in mind that the issue of “Turkey and sanctions” will be discussed at the upcoming European Council in December and the fact that Turkey, despite the continuous sanctions approved in the past against it, does not show that it is ready to comply. It is therefore clear that the new procedure of discussion on the Progress Report on Turkey will be persistent and difficult”, the AKEL MEP said.

The position we will take on it, he pointed out, “will be consistent and longstanding”.

Turkey, he said, “must demonstrate its objectives towards the EU with tangible and consistent actions, avoid any provocative actions that violate the sovereignty and sovereign rights of other member states, and demonstrate goodwill in the negotiations for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.”