Mekrel has seen the light, finally. During the recent CDU/CSU meeting German Chancellor made it clear, it was not time to expand EU membership talks with Turkey.
Turkey’s membership negotiations have been going on for many years. In the early 2000s Recep Tayyip Erdogan was regarded as a pro-European politician with strong expectations being laid on him to turn Muslim Turkey into a modern European democracy with a developed economy. More than 10 years have passed but nothing has actually changed. Well yes, Erdogan has changed his country but European standards were not his priority.
The Turkish president is firmly following the course of eliminating his critics and political opponents. There’s almost nothing left of freedom of speech and press in Turkey. Dozens of opposition journalists have been arrested and thrown into prisons. Hundreds of people suspected or being deliberately accused of holding ties with Fethullah Gulen are arrested, some even killed. After the suppression of the military coup Erdogan has practically concentrated all power in his hands, he portrays himself as a Sultan and undermines the foundations of the rule of law.
Taking into account all the recent events in Turkey, one cannot but agree with all those politicians demanding that negotiations with Turkey on its EU membership be immediately halted.
There is simply no place in the European Union for the state that openly opposes the European principles and values, as well there’s no place in the European community for those who try to impose their cultural and religious values that fly in the face of the ones generally accepted. It’s high time for Brussels to realize that the time for illusions is over.
The article has been translated from German. Source.