Turkish minister rebukes EU Commissioner Füle, stresses ‘independence’

ANKARA

Turkey’s EU Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also urged EU officials to share their views with their Turkish counterparts before making public statements on sensitive issues. AA Photo

Turkey’s EU Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has emphasized the notion of “independence” in response to EU Commissioner Stefan Füle, who recently suggested that Turkey should agree to a preliminary assessment of its pending legislation before new accession negotiations can begin.

Çavuşoğlu also urged EU officials to share their views with their Turkish counterparts before making public statements on sensitive issues.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Feb. 12, he said Turkey was reforming fast, with almost one law being sent to Parliament every day.

“If we attempted to ask for an opinion on every law, none of these reforms would be completed,” Çavuşoğlu said. “There may be an exchange of views on important laws. But, still, we are an independent state while adopting each and every law.”

His remarks came in response to Füle’s remarks delivered in Brussels following a meeting with the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, and Çavuşoğlu on Feb. 10

“We have underlined the need for Turkey as a candidate country in accession negotiations to engage in early consultations with the Commission on every law related to both the accession process and the political criteria. We discussed this particularly in the light of the recent exchanges on the importance of an independent judiciary and the Internet law adopted by Parliament last week,” Füle said after the meeting.

“It is the Commission’s duty to monitor the developments and express concerns when these are justified and to also offer help and support in ensuring compatibility with acquiescence and the EU’s best practice. In this context, with regard to the Internet law, the Commission agreed to share in writing a number of identified concerns regarding both the compatibility with acquiescence and the EU’s best practices,” he added.

Çavuşoğlu said the Turkish delegation told their EU counterparts that they ought to share their views on laws they are sensitive to with Turkish officials before making “hasty” public statements.

“We didn’t tell them to make statements in line with the information we give. But when you make a statement based on wrong information on a particular issue, then compensating for it is difficult,” he said.