Turkey: EU comments on its rights record 'prejudiced, unfair'

Ankara rejected on Wednesday what it called the "prejudiced and unfair" stance of the European Union towards fundamental rights and the judiciary in Turkey, and regarding Cyprus, contained in the bloc's report on EU membership candidates.

In its annual enlargement policy report, the European Commission said that while the EU had advanced ties with Turkey in areas of mutual interest, legal action by Turkish authorities against elected officials, opposition figures and civil society had raised concerns about Ankara's "adherence to core democratic principles".

"The gap between Türkiye's declared objective of joining the EU and its backsliding on the fundamental political criteria for EU accession has widened further. The underlying factors that led to the standstill in the accession negotiations in 2018 remain unaddressed," it said.

Turkey has been an official candidate to join the EU since 1999, but its accession has long been frozen over issues ranging from its human rights record to democratic backsliding, which Ankara denies.

Turkey's opposition has faced an unprecedented legal crackdown, with several elected officials and mayors being detained, arrested or ousted. Turkey has also clamped down on some media outlets and carried out widespread operations targeting LGBTQ+ groups which the government says aim to protect children and family values, but which have drawn sharp criticism from rights groups and the EU.

Responding to the report, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said the report's findings were baseless and showed "double standards."

"We reject the baseless allegations contained in the report, particularly those concerning political criteria and the areas of judiciary and fundamental rights," it said.

It said the report's findings about Cyprus, in which the bloc rejected Turkey's call for a two-state solution and criticised its operations, presence and projects on the island, were defending the "maximalist positions" of Greece and the internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot government, adding that these were "detached from reality and inconsistent with international law."

Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greece-inspired coup. It remains divided into an internationally recognised Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north that only Ankara recognises. Turkey, which does not recognise the Greek Cypriot government, has in recent years repeatedly urged a two-state solution, which Cyprus, Greece and the EU reject.

The ministry also said the report's findings criticising a maritime delimitation agreement between Turkey and Libya were "null and void".