Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday reacted against the decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to reopen political monitoring of Turkey “until its concerns are addressed in a satisfactory manner,” saying Turkey will not recognize it.
Speaking to Reuters, Erdoğan described the PACE decision as “entirely political” and underlined that Ankara did not recognize the decision.
The assembly gathered Tuesday in Strasbourg in a session to discuss a report titled “The functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey” during which 113 voted in favor, while 45 voted against the monitoring decision.
Reacting to the European Union in his interview, Erdoğan also said he was “ready to take the question of EU accession to a referendum” and that “Turkey cannot wait indefinitely after 54 years at the door.”
“The UK asked her people and they voted for Brexit … They have peace of mind, they are walking towards a new future, and the same thing was conducted by Norway … and the same thing can be applied to Turkey, too.”
Johannes Hahn, the European commissioner for neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations, on Monday urged EU governments to consider changing its relationship with Turkey after the referendum.
“The current situation is not sustainable,” Hahn said.
EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the issue when they meet in Malta on April 28.
Erdoğan to return to AKP once results announced
Speaking about debates over the result of a referendum on April 16 that changed Turkey’s parliamentary system of governance to an executive presidency, Erdoğan said added that “neither the country’s Constitutional Court nor the European Court of Human Rights has the authority to review the outcome of the vote.”
Dismissing the possibility of early elections following a narrow victory in last Sunday’s referendum, Erdoğan underlined that he would return to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) once the Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) announces the official results of the referendum.
Despite news stories in the Turkish media, Erdoğan also said that he had not discussed a potential Cabinet reshuffle with Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım.
