The difficulty with Turkey’s accession to European Union lies in the prejudices of Europeans, as well as in difficulties with the change of the laws of the country. This statement was made by the former foreign minister and representative of Turkey in UN Yashar Yakysh in a conversation with a reporter “Lents.ru” Khayal Muazzin.
“The prejudice did not arise in a month, its roots go back to the Ottoman past. The image of Turkey is an Ottoman state carrying the flag of Islam to Europe, hence the negative attitude,” Yakysh said.
He added that Ankara has fulfilled 67 out of 72 criteria for joining the bloc, but has difficulties with the remaining five criteria. Among them is the law on terrorism: according to the Turkish Criminal Code, those who did not commit acts of violence, but only made inappropriate statements, are included under a terrorist article. The EU legislation does not provide for charges of terrorism in such cases. The diplomat stressed that for Turkey, such a device is important legislation in the fight against Kurdish groups.
On December 11, the participants in the meeting of the heads of state and government of the European Union agreed the introduction of sanctions against Turkey. Turkey’s actions in the Mediterranean were named as one of the key topics for discussion at the summit. EU leaders decided to expand sanctions against the country due to the illegal activities of the state.