Turkey taking 'huge strides' away from European Union, top EU official says

Turkey is moving rapidly away from the path of European Union membership, the top EU official in charge of negotiations said on Tuesday, as Brussels' delivered its harshest criticism yet of Ankara's shift towards authoritarianism.

While couched in diplomatic language, the European Commission's annual report on Turkey's progress towards membership blamed Ankara for a broad, collective and disproportionate crackdown following a failed 2016 coup attempt.

It warned that years of progress towards European Union standards in human rights, freedom of expression and the rule of law were being lost and that Turkey had seen a weakening of local democracy as presidential powers increased.

Turkey "continues to take huge strides away from the EU, in particular in the areas of rule of law and fundamental rights," European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who oversees EU...

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