The EU Must Continue Engaging with Turkey

The recent referendum in Turkey is the latest example of populism hijacking politics around the world, and it bodes badly both for the country and for its largest trading partner, the European Union. By dramatically shifting power to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, democracy, human rights and the economy will suffer.

But the European Union should also be held accountable for the outcome, and for a blatantly defective way of dealing with Turkey over the past decades. For instance, the EU failed to move forward with the accession negotiations at times when democratic support was desperately needed to empower democratic forces.

While the Turkish republic was left alone dealing with a mass influx of millions of refugees, the European Union only turned to its Mediterranean neighbour for help when confronted with its own refugee crisis.

Source: Equal.com