Statement by Martin SCHULZ, EP President on the situation in Turkey

Brussels

statement

EU - Türkiye (T)

respect for human rights in the world (T)

SCHULZ, Martin (S&D, DE)

Statement by Martin SCHULZ, EP President on the situation in Turkey (French version)

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/14684618/I124940Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (French), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, We strongly condemn the military coup in Turkey and we are glad that the coup didn&rsquo;t succeed. Democracy was defended by a joint declaration of the 4 parliamentary groups and we were very impressed by this. But one thing is clear, the President of the Republic as well as the government must also defend the fundamental values of democracy. The fact that in the last three days it has been possible to discharge 13000 functionaries and detain 6000 people, shows that the answer to the coup is being a strong and well prepared answer. I have some doubts on how in 48h we can identify every person that has participated in this coup, so there are some questions to be raised.

SOUNDBITE (French), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, There is also another non-negotiable element: death penalty is a red line, whoever crosses that line cannot count on the EU. That would be the end of the accession negotiations and would also have a considerable impact on the economy and on the economic relations between the EU and Turkey. Nobody has the right to challenge Turkey&rsquo;s democracy. This is the reason why we stand side by side the democratic forces in Turkey. Today I was on the phone with the two leaders of the opposition, Mr Kılı&ccedil;daroğlu and Mr Demirtaş, to encourage them to defend democracy in turkey and give them our support. We keep in touch with our friends in Turkey and we call on the President of the Republic and to the government to respect the fundamental laws and the individual rights of the Turkish citizens.