Martin Schulz: Turkey on the way to becoming a ‘one-man state’

23.05.2016 03:01

Martin Schulz: Turkey on the way to becoming a ‘one-man state’

No visa liberalization for Turks in Europe until Erdoğan meets all conditions, the European Parliament president insists.

Recent moves by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan represent a “stunning rejection of the values of Europe” and make any discussion of Turkey becoming a member of the EU “effectively impossible,” European Parliament President Martin Schulz said in an interview published Monday.

“We see that Turkey under Erdoğan is on the way to a one man state,” Schulz told the Cologne daily, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, citing last week’s lifting of parliamentaryimmunity for opposition MPs. He also took aim at changes in the prime ministership, after Ahmet Davutoğlu stepped aside and was replaced by Erdoğan ally Binali Yıldırım.

Schulz said there can be no visa liberalization for Turkish citizens traveling in Europe until Ankara meets all the EU’s conditions, including changes to anti-terror legislation. Erdoğan has previously said he will not move on that point.

“We have to make it clear that we do not idly accept the monopolization of power in one man’s hands,” Schulz said.

Schulz also spoke out against scrapping the EU-Turkey refugee deal.

“The refugees would have to pay the price in the end,” he said. “We need a good agreement. We will therefore continue to cooperate with Turkey, but we must not remain silent.”

The statements come ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Istanbul Monday to attend a summit on refugees and attempt to save the EU’s refugee arrangement with Ankara.

“I am convinced that it’s in German, European and Turkish interests, and especially in the interests of those who are fleeing war and persecution,” Merkel said of the arrangement in an interview published Sunday, with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.