EU Parliament Votes to Freeze Turkey Membership Talks

STRASBOURG — The European Parliament on Thursday voted to suspend membership talks with Turkey over its disproportionate post-coup crackdown.

The MEPs approved the nonbinding resolution on November 24, asking the 28-nation EU “to initiate a temporary freeze” on talks with Ankara until “disproportionate measures under the state of emergency in Turkey are lifted.”

They said they remained “committed to keeping Turkey anchored to the EU” but said that parliament “calls on the Commission and the Member States, however, to initiate a temporary freeze of the ongoing accession negotiations with Turkey.”

The vote carries no immediate consequences, but it underscores the increasing unease in Europe over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s tightening grip on power in the wake of a failed coup attempt in July.

Turkey immediately branded the non-binding vote “insignificant”, while Erdogan had already said in his latest broadside against the European Union that the result was worthless.

Turkey’s EU affairs minister said the vote breached basic European values, and that Ankara didn’t take the vote seriously.

The decision hit the embattled Turkish lira — boosted by a rate hike earlier in the day — to leave the currency losing 1.50 percent against the dollar on the day.