International

Negotiations with Turkey over accession to the EU must be halted. This was the view stated by SP leader Emile Roemer on Tuesday in the parliamentary debate on the aftermath of the failed coup attempt in Turkey. “The rule of law and freedom of the press are under heavy pressure in Turkey,” noted Roemer. “some 100,000 people have been laid off or suspended. Tens of thousands are under arrest. Press freedom has been destroyed. Last weekend, moreover, dozens of elected mayors were unceremoniously fired. A country where freedom is under such pressure cannot become a member of the European Union. So negotiations must be stopped.”

Roemer argued in addition that the financial support which Turkey receives in the negotiations must also be brought to an end. “As a candidate for membership the country gets extensive financial aid,” he says. “More than €4 billion, ending in 2020. If the negotiations are stopped, this aid will stop too.”

During the debate the SP also urged that action be taken against the long arm of Erdoğan in the Netherlands. “It’s well known that Erdoğan and his people virtually participate in government in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. From the foster child Yunus, a boy that Turkey would not allow to be placed with a lesbian foster mother, to the Turkish consulate’s ‘click-line’, where Erdoğan’s critics can be reported, to the arrest of Ebru Umar” – a Dutch journalist of Turkish origin taken into custody for sending a tweet criticising the president – “and now once again the lists of alleged enemies of the state and terrorists.” The Prime Minister has not dealt with Turkey, said Roemer, but Turkey certainly deals with us. “How much proof do we need before this government takes action?”