Turkey slams European Parliament for pressure on anti-Russia sanctions

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Bloomberg
14 Sep 2023 12:28

Turkey refuses to participate in any additional sanctions against Russia for fear of complicating its mediation efforts between Kiev and Moscow.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara, Turkey (AA)

Ankara slammed the European Parliament's emphasis on collaboration in imposing sanctions against Russia as Turkey and the European Union embarked on a new endeavor to restart the country's stalled membership negotiations, Bloomberg reported.

The news website indicated that the European Union and the United States are putting pressure on Turkey to join the sanctions campaign against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

While committing to enforceable United Nations sanctions, Turkey is refusing to participate in any additional sanctions activities for fear of complicating its mediation efforts between Kiev and Moscow.

Last weekend, at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on leaders to satisfy some of Russia's requests in order to resurrect the Black Sea agreement, which permitted Ukrainian grain supplies and reduced global food costs.

However, the US and its allies have rebuffed his proposal to remove sanctions.

EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi also praised Turkey's attempts to revive the deal but called on the Turkish government to work with the EU.

"It is essential that Turkey remains engaged with the EU, also on the implementation of sanctions against Russia, in particular as regards the sanctioned products," Varhelhi stressed on Wednesday in his opening remarks on the 2022 annual report on Turkey in the plenary session of the European Parliament.

European lawmakers unanimously supported the report on Turkey, which claimed that Turkey "has continued to move away from the EU, with backsliding in the area of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights."

"The report, as a collection of unfounded allegations and prejudices based on disinformation by anti-Türkiye circles, is a reflection of EP's well-known shallow and non-visionary approach not only towards Türkiye-EU relations but also towards the future of the EU," the Turkish Foreign Ministry underlined in response.

It continued, "This report, unfortunately, demonstrates that the EP members are captives of populist daily politics, and away from developing the right strategic approach to the EU, as well as to our region."

"In such a critical period of time when the stability and security of our continent are at stake and a window of opportunity has been opened to revitalize Türkiye-EU relations, we find it irrational that the EP brings to the fora other pursuits parallel to the accession negotiations which are the backbone of Türkiye-EU relations," the statement read.

It is noteworthy that Turkey first applied to be a member of the European Economic Community -- a predecessor to the EU -- in 1987.

It became an EU candidate country in 1999 and formally launched membership negotiations with the bloc in 2005.