New not Kurtz for Turkey's EU membership

Greater determination in relation to Turkey is demanding in a recent interview with the German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag" Austrian Foreign Minister and new leader of the co-governor, with Social Democrats, Conservative "New People's Party" Sebastian Kurtz, stressing that he will continue to support the interruption in Accession negotiations with Ankara.

"The EU must now finally find a clear attitude towards Turkey and instead of joining the EU, to seek a co-operative cooperation with Turkey," Sebastian Kurtz said, adding that he welcomed the fact that his German counterpart, Zigmar Gabriel, Who a few weeks ago criticized me for populism, has now finally reconsidered his appreciation of the situation and the encounter with Turkey. "

Earlier this week, and on the occasion of Tayyip Erdogan's statements on the first anniversary of the attempted coup d'état, the Austrian Foreign Minister had appeared justified in his intense criticism of Ankara and his demand for the suspension of the EU- Turkey.

"This Turkey has no place in the EU," he said in an interview with the Austrian Radio, noting that all of these statements from Erdogan are not the worst of cases, but the worst case is all that happens in On a daily basis in Turkey where the dissenters, from whom countless are imprisoned, where opposition and journalists are silenced, are all facts that the EU must not overlook.

At the same time, he welcomed the fact that, as noted, Brussels has partially changed their attitude and the EU now has a clearer line with Turkey, which he has been calling for for a long time, and where he now appears gradually Some mobility. Sebastian Kurt's' no 'fixed' no 'to a' Turkish membership 'in the EU is contained in his recent paper with his proposals for the Austrian Presidency in the EU in the second half of 2018, in which he stresses that' Europe has clarified the relationship with Turkey ".

In the same document, he notes that, unlike the Western Balkan candidate countries, "Turkey has been moving away from the EU for years," and last year's failed coup d'état has accelerated even more this process, having "dramatic consequences Human rights, the rule of law and democracy ".

Last week, Sebastien Kurtz had forbidden the entry into Austria of Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zimpecki who was about to speak at an event on the first anniversary of a failed coup d'état in Turkey on July 15, 2016. While already last February the Austrian Minister Foreign Minister had rejected as undesirable the potential propaganda appearance of the Turkish President in his supporters' gatherings in Austria for his controversial referendum on April 16th.