Activities of Georgios EPITIDEIOS related to 2016/2308(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
2016 Report on Turkey (debate) EL
Amendments (17)
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines that 2016 was a difficult year for Turkey’s population as a result of the continuing war in Syria, the high numbers of refugees, a string of heinous terror attacks, and a violent coup attemptcoup in which 248 people were killed; reiterates its strong condemnation of the coup attempt of 15 July and expresses its solidarity with the people of Turkey; recognises the right and the responsibility of the Turkish government to take action in bringing the perpetrators to justice; stresses furthermore that 2016 was also a difficult year for the Kurdish population of Turkey due to the continual violations of the basic freedoms and rights of the Kurdish minority by the government of Turkey;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Underlines, however, that measures taken under the state of emergency had large-scale, disproportionate and long- lasting negative effects on the protection of fundamental freedoms in the country; condemns the collective dismissal of civil servants, the mass liquidation of media outlets, the arrests of journalists, academics, judges, human rights defenders, elected officials and ordinary citizens, the torture inflicted on those arrested, the wretched conditions under which they are being held and the confiscation of property and passports on the basis of emergency decree laws without individualised decisions, and without the possibility of timely judicial review;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the strategic importance of good EU-Turkey relations for both sides; recognises that both Turkey and the EU have gone through their own internal transformation processes since the accession negotiations were opened in 2004; regrets that the accession instruments have not been used to the fullest extent and that, over the years, Turkey’s full integration into the EU has lost public support on both sides, since the internal processes transforming Turkey are moving towards the creation of an illiberal, personality-based regime; remains committed to cooperating and maintaining an open dialogue with the Turkish Government, in order to address common challenges; recommends that the Council urgently invite the Turkish Government to a summit to discuss the obvious crisis in EU-Turkey relations that we are faced with and to clarify the extent to which the Turkish Government wishes to honour its commitments;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to suspendbreak off the accession talks with Turkey if the constitutional package is implemented unchanged;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that measures undertaken following the declaration of the state of emergency have targeted allegedseek to neutralise the government's political rivals, i.e. putative members/ supporters of the Gülen movement, and dissidents in general, and the suspension of political parties of the opposition in particular; strongly condemns the imprisonment of 13 MPs belonging to the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), including its co-chairs, and of 90 Kurdish municipal mayors; urges the Turkish Government to lift the state of emergency immediately; underlines that the reintroduction of the death penalty wouldill violate Turkey’s international commitments and lead to an immediate end to the EU accession talks;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Turkish Government to offer to all persons subject to restrictive measures appropriate and effective remedies and fair judicial review in line with the rule of law; calls on Turkey to revise the ‘Commission of Inquiry for State of Emergency Practices’ in such a way that it becomes a robust, independent and fully mandated commission capable of giving individual treatment to all cases, of processing effectively the enormous number of applications it will receive and of ensuring that the judicial review is not unduly delayed;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Condemns strongly the violations of freedom of expression and the serious infringements of media freedom, including the disproportionate bannings of media sites and social media; notes with concern the closure of around 170 media outlets -– including almost all Kurdish-language outlets -– and the jailing of more than 150 journalists; recalls that a free and pluralistic press is an essential component of any democracy and urges the Turkish government to release all journalists immediately and to allow media and independent websites to function freely;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Expresses its serious concern at the continuously deteriorating situation in south-east Turkey, especially in the areas where curfews were imposed, whereich have seen curfews imposed and the illegal persecution of the population and the violation of their human rights, as a result of which some 2 000 people were reportedly killed in the context of security operations and an estimated half a million people became displaced in the period from July 2015 to December 2016; notes that local prosecutors have consistently refused to open investigations into the reported killings; is convinced that only a fair political settlement of the Kurdish question can bring sustainable stability and prosperity both to the area and to Turkey as a whole; notes that a series of laws have created an atmosphere of ‘systematic impunity’ for the security forces; regrets the decision of the Turkish Parliament to waive the immunity of a large number of MPs unconstitutionally, paving the way for the arrests of opposition politicians;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Is concerned that judges and prosecutors continue to come under strong political pressure and that many have been dismissed or arrested; calls on Turkey to restore and implement all legal guarantees to ensure full respect for the independence of the judiciary, including by amending the law on the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) in order to reduce the executive’s influence within that Council; is particularly concerned that ‘criminal judges of peace’ appear to have been transformed into an instrument of harassmentfor all kinds of harassment and manipulation to stifle opposition, as well as controlling the information available to the general public;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on Turkey to protect the rights of the remaining Greeks of Istanbul, the Princes' Islands and the surrounding areas and of Imbros and Tenedos, as provided for in the Treaty of Lausanne, who are few in number on account of their systematic persecution, and calls on Turkey also to protect the rights of the most vulnerable groups and of persons belonging to minorities; regrets that the LGBTI marches in Ankara and Istanbul were banned for the second consecutive year; is seriously concerned about gender-based violence, discrimination, hate speech against minorities, hate crime and violations of the human rights of LGBTI persons; calls on Turkey to harmonise its domestic legislation with the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention, which it ratified in 2014; welcomes the government’s national strategy and action plan for Roma and encourages the authorities to address key obstacles to the social inclusion of Roma;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the deepenprogress regarding of EU- Turkey relations in key areas of joint interest, such as counter-terrorism, migration, energy, the economy and trade; believes EU-Turkey cooperation in these areas to be an investment in the stability and prosperity of both Turkey and the EU; at the same time, deplores the Turkey’s policy of using the migration problem to blackmail the EU and calls on it to rethink its approach in this regard;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Believes that strengthening trade relations could bring concrete benefits to citizens in Turkey and the EU, and therefore supports the Commission’s proposal to start negotiations on the upgrading of the Customs Union; notes that progress in this direction can only be achieved if Turkey is willing to recognise the Republic of Cyprus and remove existing restrictions barring Cyprus- flagged vessels from its ports and denying Cypriot aircraft landing rights at its airports; reiterates that the EU is Turkey’s main trading partner and that two thirds of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Turkey comes from EU Member States; considers the involvement of social partners in negotiations as crucial; calls on the Commission to include political benchmarks on human rights and fundamental freedoms in the upgraded Customs Union;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Notes that, while visa liberalisation is important for the Turkish peopulale, if it is not subject to careful scrutiny and to the necessary conditions and will enhance people-to-people contacts;limitations, it will be disastrous for the peoples of the EU; therefore encourages the Turkish Government to comply with the final outstanding criteria, including revision of its anti-terrorism legislation;
Amendment 283 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to take into account the latest developments in Turkey when conducting the mid-term review of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) funds in 2017, and to suspend all pre-accession funds if Turkey no longer sufficiently complies with the EU’s Copenhagen criteria; calls on the Commission to use those funds to support Turkish civil society and to invest more in people-to-pehalt immediately any form of funding for Turkey; calls on the Commission to use those funds to combat unemployment in Europle exchange programmes, such as Erasmus+and support the Erasmus+ programme for students;
Amendment 297 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Condemns in the strongest terms all terrorist attacks carried out in Turkey, and stands firmly by Turkey’s population in our joint fight against terrorism; condemns equally strongly terrorist practices of Turkey against the Kurdish population of the country; supports the right of the Kurdish minority to its own homeland; welcomes the close bilateral relations between EU Member States and Turkey in the field of anti-terrorism cooperation, including on ‘foreign fighters’; reiterates its condemnation of the return to violence by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been on the EU’s list of terrorist organisations since 2002; invites the Member States to enforce legislation banning the use of signs and symbols of organisations which are on that list;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Commends the engagement by the Turkish Government and the hospitality shown by the population in hosting around 3 million refugees; notes the EU-Turkey statement on migration, and urges the Member States to initiate the voluntary resettlement scheme for the most vulnerable refugees in Turkey; calls on the Commission to ensure long-term investment in both refugees and their host communities in Turkey; encourages the Turkish Government to grant work permits to all Syrian refugees; calls on Ankara to keep up its patrolling efforts in the Aegean and to implement fully the bilateral readmission agreements signed with Bulgaria and Greece; urges Turkey at the same time to end the continuous infringements of Greek airspace and territorial waters by its naval and coast guard vessels, which are occurring on almost daily basis;
Amendment 358 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Underlines that a settlement of the Cyprus problem would have a positive impact on the entire region, while first and foremost benefiting both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots; praistresses the leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus for having achieved major progress in the settlement talks; welcomes the exchange of preferred maps, thus far unprecedented, and the first international conference held with the guarantor powers; supports the settlement based on a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality, a single international legal personality, single sovereignty and single citizenship with political equality between the two communities, in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolutionat the basic condition for a solution to the Cyprus problem is the immediate withdrawal of Turkish forces from Cyprus, given that the problem was created by illegal invasion of Turkey; notes that the President of the Republic of Cyprus cannot be equated in political terms with the representative of the illegal occupying forces; points out that any form of federation does not solve the problem but merely perpetuates it; condemns the heinous acts of Turkish troops in Cyprus and in particular the mass killings of civilians, the execution of prisoners, the rape of women, the profanation of graves and the systematic destruction of churches and on the basis of respect for the principles on which the Union is foundedcultural heritage; condemns Turkey's failure to provide information concerning the fate of missing persons transferred to that country in 1974; welcomes the intensified engagement by the parties to achieve the settlement of the Cyprus problem; expects Turkey to show active support for the negotiations, and reiterates that Turkey’s commitment and contribution to a comprehensive settlement remain crucial; praises the important work of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), and calls on Turkey to allow access to all relevant sites and to assist the CMP by providing information from its military archives;