The scathing report on Ankara’s EU candidacy, originally due for release before the vote that returned President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party to power, praised Turkey for housing Syrian refugees and for cooperating on the migration crisis.
But it was severely critical of the domestic situation in the mainly Muslim country saying that under Erdoğan there had been “serious backsliding” on freedom of expression and that the judiciary had been undermined.
Turkey’s commitment to joining the 28-nation bloc was offset by domestic actions that “ran against European standards”, it added. “The new government formed after the repeat election on 1 November will need to address these urgent priorities,” the summary said.
The report highlighted criminal cases against journalists and writers, intimidation of media outlets and changes to laws covering the internet. “After several years of progress on freedom of expression, serious backsliding was seen over the past two years,” it said.
It added that the “independence of the judiciary and the principle of separation of powers have been undermined since 2014 and judges and prosecutors have been under strong political pressure.”
Turkey had meanwhile seen a “severe deterioration of its security situation” including a huge suicide bombing at a peace rally just before the election, and the collapse of a ceasefire with Kurdish militants.
