EU censures Turkey for rights record, media restrictions

The European Union has blasted Turkey for failing to respect human rights and media freedom, calling on Ankara to urgently address the flaws.

In its annual report on Turkish prospects for EU membership, the 28-nation bloc said under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan there has been "serious backsliding" on freedom of speech and assembly.

"The report emphasizes an overall negative trend in the respect for the rule of law and fundamental rights," said a summary of the report released on Tuesday by the European Commission, the EU's executive body.

Highlighting intimidation of media outlets, criminal cases against journalists and changes to Internet law, the report further noted that the "independence of the judiciary” has been undermined while judges as well as prosecutors have been facing “strong political pressure" since 2014.

Over the past few months Turkish journalists and writers have held a series of demonstrations to protest against what they call growing suppression of media and threats against reporters in the country.

Elsewhere, the report urged the Turkish government to re-launch peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.

"The Commission hopes to see an end to the escalating violence in Turkey and the return to negotiations on a lasting solution on the Kurdish issue," Johannes Hahn, EU enlargement commissioner, told lawmakers in the European Parliament.

Since July, the Turkish military has been conducting offensive operations against the alleged positions of the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in northern Syria as well as those of the PKK in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. Ankara's military campaign against the PKK voided a shaky ceasefire that had been declared in 2013. 

In a statement released later on Tuesday, Turkey’s Ministry of European Union Affairs rejected the EU report, saying that some of the observations in the text are "unfair, and even partly disproportionate and ignore the freedom-security balance required in a democratic country governed by the rule of law."

The EU report had been expected to be published in October, but it was delayed until after the country’s recent general elections, in which Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), founded by Erdogan, regained its parliamentary majority.

The AKP gained 317 seats in the 550-member parliament in the November 1 snap elections. It came five months after the AKP was stripped of its overall majority and subsequently failed in coalition talks with main opposition factions.

New constitution

On Tuesday, the Turkish president called for reforms and the creation of a new constitution over the coming four years, arguing that the country needs an executive presidency.

The remarks came while critics fear that granting sweeping powers to the president could put too much power in the hands of Erdogan, a leader they already consider too authoritarian.

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