Europe's future cannot be without Turkey: EU minister

By Ecenur Colak, Nazli Yuzbasioglu and Meltem Bulur

ANKARA (AA) – European Union Affairs Minister Omer Celik has called on EU leaders to put their emotions aside in debating Turkey's accession process.

Celik told Anadolu Agency on Thursday: "As Europe's history cannot be written without us, Europe's future also cannot be without us".

He said Europe would not be experiencing any of its current problems if a customs union agreement and full EU membership had been extended to Turkey.

Describing Turkey as a “great European state” bordering the Middle East, Asia, Mediterranean and Black seas, Celik said: “We have been a European democracy for hundred years."

Commenting on recent elections in a number of European states, the EU minister said those parties hostile to Turkey were also enemies of the EU. "As they cannot be hostile towards the EU, they place anti-Turkey, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism at the top. Thus, all parties supporting the EU will lose support as soon as they [show] hostility against Turkey."

However, Celik criticized Europe for tolerating activities by the terrorist PKK organization and said it could easily cooperate with Daesh.

"There cannot be a double-standard on terror organizations," he added.

-EU refugee deal

The minister also touched upon the Turkey-EU refugee deal reached in March 2016, which aimed to discourage irregular migration to Europe through the Aegean Sea.

The deal included a €6 billion ($6.8 billion) aid package to help Turkey care for millions of refugees hosted in the country.

The EU promised to initially allocate €3 billion ($3.5 billion) as a first tranche for various projects to support Syrian refugees.

In the face of a “concrete [refugee] crisis”, Celik said the EU claimed it released €2.4 billion while €1.6 billion ($1.9 billion) is "bound by contract".

However, only €899 million of the pledged €3 billion had been disbursed, according to Celik.

Celik said: “The EU’s budget model concerning the emergent humanitarian crisis is interested in payment rather than refugees.”

He also highlighted Turkey’s role as a host to three million refugees, saying: “Turkey has protected democracies and political culture in Europe via this refugee deal.”

Turkey hosts more Syrian refugees than any other country in the world. Ankara says it has spent more than €20 billion ($24.1 billion) from its own national resources for helping and sheltering refugees since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.

- 'Ocalan is a murderer'

The Turkish minister also criticized American "cooperation with a terrorist organization [the PKK] in order to eliminate another terrorist organization [Daesh]."

Referring to a Saturday statement by the U.S. embassy in Turkey that the jailed PKK terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan was "not worthy of respect", Celik said the sentence was not clear enough.

"That person is a murderer and the leader of a terrorist organization," he stressed.

The U.S. statement came after a large banner bearing Ocalan’s image was raised in an iconic square in Syria's Raqqah.

Celik said the banner was a sign of the cooperation between the U.S. and the PKK/PYD, and warned that this could trigger greater problems. "What matters is not eliminating Daesh physically, but eliminating the terror issue."

"If the result of fighting against Daesh leads to the PKK/PYD's gaining dominance in the region, either Daesh or other terror organizations will grow stronger and be trouble for the whole world again," he warned.

The PKK/PYD, the Syrian branch of the PKK, which has waged war against Turkey for more than 30 years, was among the U.S.-backed SDF which took control of Raqqah from Daesh earlier this week.

The taking of the eastern Syrian city -- considered Daesh’s de facto capital -- was marked by the unfurling of a huge banner bearing Ocalan’s image in a main square.

The U.S. has supported the SDF, which consists of the PKK/PYD and other groups, in fighting Daesh in Syria but has largely ignored its links to the PKK, which the U.S., EU and Turkey list as a terrorist group.