The European Parliament's standing rapporteurs on Turkey today sent a letter to VP/HR Federica Mogherini, calling on EU leaders to make sure that there is a genuine EU commitment to defend press freedom in Turkey and de-escalate the situation in the South East of the country. The best way to do that would be for EU leaders to raise these matters in the conclusions of the European Council that will take place on 17 and 18 of December.

S&D MEP Kati Piri and European Parliament rapporteur said:

"Turkey is a key partner of the EU to deal with the refugee crisis. Cooperation on this matter is needed and welcome. But Turkey is also an EU candidate country. This means it must be held accountable for the deterioration of fundamental rights in the country."

The joint letter further reads:

According to the 2015 world press freedom index of reporters without borders, Turkey has slid back to 149th position out of 180 countries. There are currently 32 jailed journalists in Turkey. 104 more journalists are under custody, 49 of them only in the last three months. 797 journalists have a publishing ban. In this context, we are particularly worried about the arrest, on 26 November, of Can Dündar, Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief, and Erdem Gül, the daily’s Ankara bureau chief.

In addition, the signatories would also like to draw attention to the deteriorating situation in the South East of Turkey. The return to violence by the PKK is unacceptable. Arms must be laid down, as violence cannot bring any solution to the Kurdish question. But also the detention of 22 local mayors and the long-lasting curfews, for which citizens pay a very high price, must be addressed. Following the elections and the appointment of a new government in Ankara we believe it is high time for both parties to go back to the negotiation table and re-launch the peace process. The EU should pro-actively encourage any initiative seeking peace.

Finally, EU cannot trade off our values for the protection of our borders. That was the message also Can Dündar sent to the EU heads of governments. During the EU-Turkey Summit, regretfully none of these matters have been raised in the final statement of the meeting.

The letter has been signed by Kati Piri, MEP (S&D, the Netherlands), Renate Sommer, MEP (EPP, Germany), Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, MEP (ALDE, Germany), Takis Hadjigeorgiou, MEP (GUE-NGL, Cyprus) and Bodil Valero, MEP (Greens, Sweden).