Turkey-EU parliamentary meeting delayed a month amid cool relations

A planned joint parliamentary meeting between Turkey and EU representatives was postponed for a month due to lawmakers’ busy agenda, the Turkish co-chair of the joint commission has said, after a European lawmaker accused Ankara of delaying the event in order to avoid criticism, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission (KPK) Co-Chair Afif Demirkıran said a commission meeting planned to be held on Feb. 18 and 19 in Istanbul has been delayed to March because 25 KPK member lawmakers will have to attend debates for the much-debated security bill in Ankara.

Speaking to semi-official Anadolu Agency on Feb. 11, Demirkıran ruled out claims that the decision was politically-motivated and was a reaction to the 442 change motions filed about the Progress Report on Turkey’s accession bid currently being prepared by the European Parliament.

Some 442 motions have been filed by European Parliament lawmakers to sharpen the tone of the report, including calling on Ankara to recognize claims that the 1915 massacres of Ottoman Armenians amounted to genocide, and removing the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from the EU’s terror list.

Demirkıran said the European Parliament’s Progress Report called for the reconciliation of Turkey and Armenia, but stressed that Turkey rapporteur Kati Piri is “aware of Turkey’s red lines” on the issue.