European Parliament’s Draft Report on the 2018 Commission Report on Turkey was first made public on 14 November 2018. 319 amendment proposals submitted by the EP members to the draft report were discussed in the shadow rapporteur meetings. Compromised draft report was voted today (20 February 2019) by the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) of the European Parliament. However, the final report is expected to be adopted at the General Assembly in March (11-14 March or 25-28 March 2019).

The report is legally non-binding and has an advisory capacity. The call made in the report to officially suspend Turkey’s EU accession negotiations is absolutely unacceptable. The groundless allegations in the report are indicating the EP’s partial and prejudiced attitude towards our country.

We have taken and are taking necessary steps regarding the draft report and amendment proposals which we consider as inconsistent. We are informing the EP members on the process of transition to the Presidential Government System and on our current reform process.

Nevertheless, we regrettably see that the baseless claims nourishing from circles against our country remain in the draft report. We expect that the necessary corrections will be made to have a more realistic, objective and encouraging final EP report on Turkey. Only such a report will be taken into consideration by our country.

Turkey is committed to its EU accession process and determined to maintain its reform agenda. Our main aim is to provide Turkish citizens with the highest standards they deserve. What is needed is not the suspension of Turkey’s accession process, but removal of obstacles for the accession process. The accession process is to the benefit of both Turkey and the EU.

Within this framework, we expect the EU and the EP, which represents its peoples, to remain faithful to its contractual obligations.