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Turkey, Europe at impasse

Reporter: Ning Hong 丨 CCTV.com

11-23-2016 15:19 BJT

The European parliament has put forward a resolution to freeze talks with Turkey. This was in a plenary session on Tuesday in Strasbourg. For its part, Turkey is calling for a referendum on whether to continue negotiations to join the EU. Decades of negotiation may turn out to have been for nothing.

"We can stand up and ask the people, just like the British are doing," Turkish President Erdogan.

"We would ask: 'Do we continue the negotiations with the European Union, or do we end them?' If the people say 'continue', then we would carry on because, as I've always said, if you do not intend to accept us, then let us know. And if you do plan to, then let's end this matter. They have never given us a clear answer yes or no. They just keep on stalling us."

Analysts in Turkey say that after the military coup failed in July, the EU didn't give Ankara much credit for its crackdown efforts on anti-government forces. Instead, the EU criticized the actions as an overreach that ignored human rights. This naturally made the Turkish government unhappy and has directly led to these calls for a referendum.

New surveys show that 67 percent of the Turkish people are against joining the EU. A referendum may become the end of the negotiations. Although holding a referendum is still up in the air, merely raising the topic could put more pressure on the EU to win over the Turkish people. The EU must seek consensus in matters such as human rights and anti-terrorism.

"The European Union is aware of the importance of Turkey in refugee issues, but they haven't shown enough sincerity," said Nail Alkan, Professor of International Relations.

"Otherwise, there wouldn't be a problem. Now the most critical matter in Turkey is terrorism. But the people who Turkey believes are terrorists are now living freely in Europe."

The biggest dispute between Turkey and Europe is in the definition of "terrorist" and the ways to fight them, as the European Union thinks Turkey's anti-terrorism measures violate human rights. The negotiation may continue, but the people in Turkey are losing patience.

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