European Commission Report: Scathing criticism of Turkey on rule of law, EastMed, Cyprus, Greece

By George Gilson

The European Union's 2021 report on candidate-country Turkey offers a devastating image of a country that has trampled over the rule of law at all levels of statecraft and is in substance an authoritarian state - with an essential collapse of the separation of powers and power concentrated in the presidency and Recep Tayyip Erdogan -with blanket violations of human and civil rights at home and of international law abroad, from Syria and Libya to the Eastern Mediterranean, with provocations against Cyprus and Greece.

The report details "serious deficiencies in the functioning of Turkey's democratic institutions", "serious backsliding" on civil society issues and limitations on freedom of expression and association, "the systemic lack of independence of the judiciary and undue pressure on judges and prosecutors", "the continuing deterioration of human and fundamental rights", and "gender-based violence, discrimination, and hate speech against minorities, in particular against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) persons".

Eastern Mediterranean

The report also details the provocations and violations of the sovereign rights of Cyprus and Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the Commission highlights the fact that the Turkish-Libyan maritime delimitation and military agreements of 2019 constitute an "infringement of the sovereign rights of third States [Greece and Cyprus], not complying with the Law of the Sea and having no legal consequences for third States".

Withering criticism of Ankara's actions in EastMed

Noting the fact that in December, 2020, "the European Council strongly condemned Turkey's unilateral actions, provocations and escalated...

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