EU warns can halt talks with Turkey but ‘does not want to’

PanARMENIAN.Net - European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Füle has warned that the EU may halt negotiations with Turkey but that the EU does not want to do it because it would be a difficult process to restart once you halt the negotiations, Today’s Zaman reported, citing sources.

Füle had a meeting with the members of the Friends of Turkey in the European Parliament (EP) earlier this week, and his warning about the possibility of halting Turkey's EU negotiations came up during this meeting, Today's Zaman said.

Friends of Turkey is an informal group founded by members of the EP with the main interest of following the negotiation process between the EU and Turkey through a critical and constructive approach.

According to EU sources, Füle said the EU does not want to halt the negotiations with Turkey because once you freeze the process it would be very difficult to restart.

At the meeting in which eight deputies from the Friends of Turkey group and many bureaucrats attended, Füle said 2014 has not started well for Turkey and that the Dec 17 corruption operation is a “highly complex investigation,” without elaborating much.

According to sources talking to Today's Zaman, Füle also said what the Turkish government is doing with regards to the corruption investigation is damaging the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers.

Füle tweeted earlier that he had asked the Turkish “authorities [to] consult relevant amendments to laws before adoption to make sure they're in line with principles of EU legislation.”