Exchange of views with Federica MOGHERINI, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC, on the situation in Turkey at Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), in the EP In Brussels.&nbsp;Sttements by Mario MAURO (Populars for Italy, IT), Member of Italian Senate, Charles TANNOCK (ECR, UK), Takis HADJIGEORGIOU (GUE/NGL, CY), Jean-Luc SCHAFFHAUSER (ENF, FR), Javier COUSO PERMUY (GUE/NGL, ES), Karel SCHWARZENBERG, Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee, Chamber of Deputies, Czech Republic, Mich&egrave;le ALLIOT-MARIE (EPP, FR), Federica MOGHERINI, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the EC.

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Brussels

exchange of views

meeting

EU - Türkiye (T)

MOGHERINI, Federica (IT, EC)

COUSO PERMUY, Javier (GUE/NGL, ES)

ALLIOT-MARIE, Michèle (EPP, FR)

freedom of press and media (T)

TANNOCK, Timothy Charles Ayrton (ECR, UK)

HADJIGEORGIOU, Takis (GUE/NGL, CY)

SCHAFFHAUSER, Jean-Luc (ENF, FR)

MAURO, Mario (EPP, IT)

SCHWARZENBERG, Karel

Exchange of views with Federica MOGHERINI, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC, on the situation in Turkey

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Mario MAURO (Populars for Italy, IT), Member of Italian Senate, The EU-Turkey agreement has been very important and I would like to ask you whether similar agreements could be struck withe the Egyptian and Tunisian governments because there, the EU could pilot camps which could reduce the pressure on the southern countries of the Mediterranean.

SOUNDBITE (English), Charles TANNOCK (ECR, UK), Just on Turkey and telegraphically, how do we reverse ERDOGAN's dictatorial trajectory which he clearly seems to relish?

SOUNDBITE (English), Takis HADJIGEORGIOU (GUE/NGL, CY), What do you think really about Turkey, can we really harden our position towards Mr. ERDOGAN?

SOUNDBITE (French), Jean-Luc SCHAFFHAUSER (ENF, FR), On Turkey: have we managed to completely change the regime in Turkey? No, quite the opposite, he was heading for a dictatorship and it is now a dictatorship.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Javier COUSO PERMUY (GUE/NGL, ES), We have had another coup carried out by ERDOGAN himself, tens of thousands of people detained, the press being attacked, we discussed this in Strasbourg, hundreds of journalists being arrested, and press centres closed down, and now MPs being arrested including the co-leaders of the HDP (Democratic Party of the Peoples,Turkey). My question ism, when are we going to stop being worried and start acting?

SOUNDBITE (English), Karel SCHWARZENBERG, Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee, Chamber of Deputies, Czech Republic, What strategy the EU has if they watch the rapprochement between ERDOGAN and PUTIN? To older ones it reminds of the rapprochement of MUSSOLINI and HITLER in the 30:ies, before MUSSOLINI despised HITLER, then World War II started.

SOUNDBITE (French), Mich&#232;le ALLIOT-MARIE (EPP, FR), Turkey: should we not have reacted earlier to better support civil society?

SOUNDBITE (English), Federica MOGHERINI, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the EC, <p>Turkey. Here again I can turn the question to you. What is the position of your national parliaments on how should we deal with Turkey? How is the position of your committees on this? My stand is this, first that we need 3 elements: one, direct engagement with the Turkish authorities, with all the Turkish opposition parties.</p>

SOUNDBITE (English), Federica MOGHERINI, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the EC, <p>Second, having a clear message. And the clear message we have expressed has been heard in Turkey: respect of rule of law, starting from the respect of opposition parties and minorities, but journalists, academia, civil society. If I can invite you to help a bit, the same clear messages would be helpful if they come from national parliaments as well. Because the game of dividing and ruling sometimes is played. And I think our strength is our unity because if I look around, across all the member states we have a united and clear position on Turkey. But don't let always some in Brussels, speak up. I think it's useful if national parliaments are also clear and direct in their exchanges with the our interlocutors in Turkey.</p>