Austria: Social Democrats reject Turkish co-operation on EU defense policy

Referring to Ankara ‘s attitude towards Greece, Cyprus and human rights, against a Turkish participation in the European Union’ s defense policy, the Social Democratic Party of Austria, the largest opposition party, which led the Austrian governments between 1970 and 2017 – with the exception of 2000-2006 of the far-right country.

In a statement today, Robert Liner, the Social Democrats’ Defense Policy Officer, categorically rejects Turkey’s participation in the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), stressing that the full implementation of human rights and sovereignty of Cyprus and Greece is a necessary condition for participation in PESCO ”.

As third countries, only those who have the same democratic values, respect the rule of law and want to promote peace can participate in PESCO, and therefore a corresponding application from Turkey for its future participation in PESCO must be rejected, he points out. Robert Liner.

He also referred to the adoption of a report by the European Parliament last Wednesday, 19 May, calling for the suspension of accession negotiations with Turkey due to the worrying human rights situation and its hostile attitude towards EU member states.

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