Austrian stance ‘more hostile than oppositional,’ says Turkey’s EU minister

ANKARA

Austria’s stance against Turkey has “turned from oppositional to hostile,” Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Ömer Çelik said in Ankara on April 4.

Çelik slammed recent remarks from Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who called on the EU to end accession negations with Turkey, suggesting that Kurz has shown an approach “more racist than racists.” 

“A sentence like ‘let’s end Turkey-EU relations, but let’s improve our relations in other areas’ is the biggest lie being spoken in Europe at the moment,” said Çelik.

“The main issue with regard to Turkey is the perspective of full membership. I want to state here once again that we will never accept an approach other than full membership,” he added.

Ties between Austrian and Turkey also soured in late 2016 amid Austrian restrictions on Turkish government figures who wanted to campaign in the country ahead of a key referendum shifting Turkey to an executive presidential system.