EU taking distance from Turkey will not protect minorities, it will not free journalists, it will not enhance the secularism of the state. To put it differently. We are not supposed to leave the progressive forces of Turkey on their own, especially not now. Tayyip Erdoğan will cease the opportunity and trigger another wave of anti-Europeanism of the “offended” Turkish people. These developments can only hurt the European Union and our country.
Politics is about priorities. The deal that has been reached between EU and Turkey on migration must not collapse. This is Greece’s priority right now. To this direction, we have urged, and we will continue doing so, the European institutions to defend this deal, putting constant pressure on Turkey for its implementation. It is obvious that, if Turkey does not comply with the agreement and opens its frontiers, then Greece will be the EU country that will be asked, once again, to handle the flow of refugees and migrants, generating dramatic phenomena, like the ones we have witnessed the last few months. On these grounds, To Potami MEPs Giorgos Grammatikakis and Miltiadis Kirkos voted against the European Parliament resolution, which requires the suspension of accession negotiations with Turkey.
If the European Union suspends accession talks with Turkey, as the European Parliament urges it to do, then we will have punished all pro-EU political parties and all Turkish citizens aspiring to the EU. We will have thrown away every tool that we possess to put pressure on Ankara. EU taking distance from Turkey will not protect minorities, it will not free journalists, it will not enhance the secularism of the state. To put it differently. We are not supposed to leave the progressive forces of Turkey on their own, especially not now. Tayyip Erdoğan will cease the opportunity and trigger another wave of anti-Europeanism of the “offended” Turkish people. These developments can only hurt the European Union and our country.
