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Austria urges to freeze Turkey’s EU membership talks

12 December 2016 16:36 (UTC+04:00)
Austria urges to freeze Turkey’s EU membership talks

By Trend

Austria wants the European Union to freeze membership talks with Turkey over Ankara’s massive crackdown following the failed military coup, FOX News reported on December 12.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said on December 12 that the EU “must at least freeze the accession negotiations.”

“It is wrong to continue accession negotiations as if nothing negative has happened in Turkey in the last few months,” he said.

Few EU states support Austria’s stance.

The EU leaders will discuss the bloc's deal with Turkey to stop tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Europe on December 15.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to open border gates after the European Parliament called last month for a freeze on membership talks.

Turkish authorities have arrested almost 38,000 people and purged more than 100,000 others from government jobs since the thwarted July 15 coup.

Turkey formally applied for an EU member in 1987 and accession talks in 2005, even though Ankara's aspirations to become part of the bloc dates back to the 1960s.

The European Commission has proposed in May that the European Parliament and EU Council will lift visa restrictions for citizens of Turkey if Ankara fulfills the remaining conditions for abolishing visa entries until the end of June.

The EU and Turkey signed a refugee deal on March 18, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

However, relations between Turkey and the EU have been strained since the July 15 coup attempt. Ankara says it has not received enough support from its EU allies, while Brussels criticized the Turkish government's crackdown on the military coup plotters, urging Ankara to comply with the EU's rights and freedoms criteria.

Ankara criticized the European Union's stance on the PKK terror group and FETO, saying EU states are turning a blind eye to the terror attacks against the Turkish state and its people as well as the activities of the group within the borders of the EU.

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