Two senior German conservative politicians have called for the European Union to end discussions with Turkey about EU membership after a vote that handed new powers to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Norbert Roettgen, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and head of the foreign affairs committee, said failing to issue consequences after the referendum vote would hurt Europe. He said pretending that Turkey could join the EU would also prevent Europe from forging a new, more realistic relationship with Turkey.
Turks voted a week ago by a narrow margin to abolish the post of prime minister and concentrate power in the hands of the president, the biggest overhaul of Turkey’s political system since the modern state was established nearly a century ago.
The results have been challenged in court by Turkey’s main opposition party, and independent election monitors from the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe have questioned the vote.
Joachim Herrmann, the Interior Minister of Bavaria and a member of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, said EU accession talks for Turkey should be ended, not paused.
