UPDATE - EP’s vote to halt accession process ‘worthless': Turkey

By Burcu Calik

ANKARA (AA) - The European Parliament's vote to suspend Turkey's EU accession process is "worthless for us", Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party spokesman said on Wednesday.

The European Parliament (EP) on Wednesday approved a report recommending the suspension of Turkey's European Union accession process.

"This disrespectful decision shows European Parliament's far-right ideological tendency," Omer Celik wrote on Twitter.

Celik said the EP was far away from making supportive decisions to democratic development and accused the EP of looking through "the narrow window of the far-right."

Recalling that the European Parliament failed to show solidarity with Turkey when the Turkish parliament was bombed during the coup attempt in July 15, 2016, Celik said the EP president visited Turkey months after the defeated coup.

"However, they see no harm in working with coup leaders. Everybody knows the racist [tendency] of the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy and that the rapporteur who prepared this report is close to terror supporters more than the democracy," Celik said.

- Turkish Foreign Ministry says EP vote 'meaningless'

Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that the EP's vote was "meaningless" and described it as "far from objectivity".

"European Parliament's stance against Turkey should be to promote ties, interaction and dialogue between Turkey and EU," the ministry said.

"Turkey expects the new EP Parliament, to be formed after the elections in May, will adopt a constructive approach to the Turkey-EU relations in the upcoming period, take qualified and objective decisions and boost Turkey's EU integration process," the ministry added.

Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee head Volkan Bozkir also condemned the EP’s decision, describing it as "groundless" and said the EP has showed its “bias and prejudice” against Turkey.

"EP again proved with this decision that they are far from constructive path. Turkey’s negotiation and accession process is beneficial for both Turkey and the EU.

"Turkey’s deep-rooted and multidimensional relations with the EU contributed and is still contributing to the EU in many aspects," Bozkir said.

Bozkir went on to say that the EP's vote against Turkey’s EU accession process, which comes at a time when Turkey's efforts to normalize and revitalize these ties was at the highest level, was “double standard” and "inconsistency".

*Writing by Sibel Morrow and Gozde Bayar