Hahn due in Turkey ahead of vote on suspending EU talks

By Ilker Girit

ISTANBUL

The EU's enlargement chief will visit Turkey ahead of a European Parliament vote on possibly suspending Turkey’s accession negotiations, he said on Wednesday.

Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations, will meet Turkey's EU Minister Omer Celik and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci, he wrote on his Twitter account.

"We cannot and will not ignore the worrying developments in Turkey -- precisely because we want fruitful bilateral relations," said Hahn, who oversees EU membership bids.

On Thursday the European Parliament is set to vote on the 2016 Commission Report on Turkey, which was drafted by the parliament's Turkey Rapporteur Kati Piri. It calls on member states to "formally suspend the accession negotiations with Turkey without delay if the constitutional reform package is implemented unchanged."

The report also calls on EU institutions to suspend pre-accession funds if negotiations are suspended with Turkey.

Piri had earlier told a press conference that the funds -- nearly €700 million euros ($800 million) a year -- should support Turkish civil society, refugees, and journalists even if the accession talks are suspended.

Even if passed, Thursday’s vote is non-binding in the EU decision-making mechanism, but it could deal a symbolic blow to Turkey’s ties with the bloc.

The EU and Turkey's fight against the PKK, FETO

Last year, the European Parliament also approved a non-binding motion to freeze EU membership talks with Turkey, in response to post-coup investigations and measures taken to fight the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) terrorist groups.

Turkey applied for membership the bloc in 1987, while accession talks began in 2005.

FETO, led by the U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, is accused of orchestrating the defeated coup of July 2016 which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU -- resumed its decades-long armed campaign in July 2015.