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Türkiye's Foreign Ministry has sharply dismissed the European Parliament's 2025 Report, adopted in plenary session, as a document rooted in disinformation and shaped by anti-Turkish bias, while calling on the body to adopt a more constructive posture toward Ankara's EU candidacy.
In a written statement, the ministry said the report "contains assessments that are inconsistent with the facts, based on unfounded allegations and misinformation from circles hostile to our country."
Ankara charged that the document was drawn up around a deliberate political agenda designed to mirror the ideological preconceptions of certain members of the European Parliament, and that it aimed to cast a shadow over what the ministry described as a positive bilateral agenda at a time when the strategic importance of Türkiye-EU relations is growing.
A focal point of Ankara's objections was what it called a distortion of ongoing legal proceedings conducted by an independent Turkish judiciary. The ministry flatly rejected targeting of Justice Minister Akin Gurlek through what it characterized as baseless accusations.
"The Turkish judiciary, one of the fundamental pillars of our state's sovereignty, is not open to interference by any international institution, external actor or political circle," the statement read.
Ankara said any attempt to make judicial processes the target of political motivations, in contradiction with the principle of judicial independence, "cannot be accepted."
The Foreign Ministry went further, arguing that the approach reflected in the report provides a platform for terrorist organizations and anti-Turkish elements, and again underscores how far the European Parliament is from articulating a strategic vision for the future of Türkiye-EU ties.
The statement did not elaborate on which organizations or groups it had in mind, a recurring feature of Turkish government rhetoric when responding to critical international assessments.
Despite the sharp tone, Ankara left the door open for a reset, framing its expectations in terms of shared strategic ground.
"Our expectation from the European Parliament is to adopt an approach that will contribute to advancing relations between candidate country Türkiye and the EU on a constructive basis, grounded in common interests, in the current environment where global challenges are increasing," the ministry said.
The report was adopted by the European Parliament with 367 votes in favor, 74 against and 188 abstentions. It concluded that Türkiye's EU accession process, frozen since 2018, cannot be relaunched under current conditions, citing concerns over democratic backsliding, judicial independence and the suppression of civil society.
The parliament's annual reports, while non-binding, serve as formal assessments of Ankara's progress, or lack thereof, toward meeting the Copenhagen criteria required for EU membership, a process Türkiye formally entered in 2005.
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