EU halts funding to Turkish government

The European Parliament approved a proposal by Greek MEP Nikos Androulakis to stop funding to the Turkish government in a plenary session, the Greek Reporter news website said on Sunday.

“We are stopping funding for the governments of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Belarus. Because a necessary condition to receive European funding is to respect human rights, the rule of law and international law,” Androulakis said in a speech at the parliament.

Androulakis, the rapporteur of the Committee on Foreign Affairs for the 2021 budget, suggested that European funds be made available to non-governmental organisations in Turkey, such as NGOs and human rights defenders within the country, and not to the Turkish government, the Greek Reporter said.

Turkey received a total of about 3.6 billion euros between 2014 and 2018. EU funds were limited to 160 million euros in 2020, an amount that also applied to 2021, according to Androulakis.

Source: ahvalnews.com