3rd LD writethru: MEPs vote for temporary freezing Turkey's accession talks

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted in favor of a non-binding motion to temporarily freeze Turkey's accession talks to join the European Union (EU) on Thursday.

The MEPs urged the European Commission and national governments to halt the ongoing EU membership talks with Turkey, which was blamed for its "disproportionate repressive measures" in response to July's failed military coup.

The non-legislative resolution was adopted by a strong majority, with 479 votes in favor to 37 against, with 107 abstentions.

In the text, MEPs indicated that "Turkey is an important partner of the EU" before qualifying. "But in partnerships, the will to cooperate has to be two-sided (...) Turkey is not showing this political will as the government's actions are further diverting Turkey from its European path."

A temporary freeze on accession talks would require no new negotiating chapters being opened and no new initiatives taken regarding Turkey's EU Negotiation Framework, which became active on October 3, 2005.

Turkey's bid to join began with the EU's predecessor, the European Economic Community (EEC), with an accession application filed in 1987. The country was first recognized as a candidate by the EU in 1999, with EU leaders agreeing in 2004 to open accession negotiations with Ankara.

Talks have faltered, however, in recent years due to disagreements over the handling of refugees in the migrant crisis that has been ongoing since 2015, human rights issues, and other issues.

Territorial disagreements over the status of the island of Cyprus have also been a sticking point for negotiations since they opened. Endit