Turkish minister blasts EU body for vote on membership talks
BRUSSELS — Turkey’s minister for European Union Affairs is condemning a non-binding vote in the European Parliament to freeze talks on Turkey joining the bloc.
Omer Celik said on Thursday that Turkey would not abide by the resolution he termed “unnecessary.”
Celik said: “This resolution, with its vision or lack thereof, its aims, its language… is not a resolution that can be taken seriously.”
The European Parliament voted 479-37 with 107 abstentions earlier Thursday to freeze the membership talks until Ankara lifts the “disproportionate measures” taken in the crackdown following a failed coup in July.