EU concerned over terrorism, migrants, media freedom in Turkey: CHP

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu said after meetings with top European Union officials in Brussels that the EU is concerned about poll security, media freedom, migrants, and terrorist acts in Turkey. 

"They expressed that they are concerned that terrorism has gradually increased, especially since the June 7 election, causing a loss of life and property and affecting poll security," said K?l?çdaro?lu during a press meeting on Sept. 24 at the CHP's EU office in Brussels. He was speaking after holding separate meetings with European Parliament President Martin Schulz, European Parliament Rapporteur for Turkey Kati Piri, and Rebecca Harms, the head of the Greens-European Free Alliance at the European Parliament.

K?l?çdaro?lu said he told the EU officials that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - which has put an end to the peace process launched over two years ago to solve the three-decade-long Kurdish problem by launching attacks on Turkish security forces since July - is an armed terrorist organization that should lay down arms without any preconditions. 

He added that the current environment of terror in Turkey "served some people," without openly defining who, while also adding that an end to terrorism would lead to the solution of many other problems in the country through negotiations. 

K?l?çdaro?lu also said top EU officials recognized that pressure on the Turkish media had increased, which was a critical situation for a country that officially remains an EU membership candidate. The negotiations on Turkey entering the EU have stagnated in recent years due to Turkey's lack of reform progress and political blocks placed within the EU itself. 

Commenting on his meeting with Schulz, K?l...