The European Parliament has voted to freeze long-term plans for Turkey to join the EU in what is widely seen as a response to Ankara’s crackdown on political opposition and independent media since July’s failed coup, The Independent reports.
MEPs voted 479 in favour on the motion amending EU-Turkey relations, with 37 against and 107 abstentions in a plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday, November 24.
The long-expected suspension had been criticised by those who say that freezing out President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will only push the country to adopt even harsher stances on human rights issues.
More than 40,000 people have been jailed under emergency laws since the aborted military takeover this summer, and 100,000 fired from public sector jobs, many in schools and universities.
“I believe the best way to strengthening Turkey’s democracy, the most effective way, is by engaging with Turkey, by keeping channels open,” EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini said ahead of the vote.
“If the accession process came to an end, I believe, we would both find ourselves in a lose-lose scenario.”
The EU agreed to accelerated talks on Turkey becoming a member of the EU in February as part of a deal which would see Middle Eastern and African refugees arriving on European shores deported back to Turkey.
The deal has largely succeeded in bringing the numbers of people arriving from across the Aegean Sea down from a peak of over 2,000 people a day in 2015 to a current average of around 100 a day. It also included £2.3billion in promised aid, £5.7 million of which has been given so far.
How the future of the strategy to combat the refugee crisis could be affected by Thursday’s vote is unclear.
Under the terms of the February deal, Turkey was also supposed to modify its anti-terror laws to bring them into line with existing EU policy in exchange for visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to the bloc. However, Erdogan has suggested that rather than do so, in the light of the July coup he would consider asking parliament to bring back the death penalty – which would definitely rule out the possibility of EU membership.
Turkey has suggested it may instead join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, an economic bloc which includes China and Russia.
A formal suspension on the EU membership talks will not be possible until December at the earliest, and will require a vote by the European Parliament’s member states.