During this policy dialogue, participants expressed their horror at the coup attempt in Turkey on 15 July and pointed to the trauma experienced by the Turkish people and the fact that it could have led to civil war if it had not been foiled. One of the few positive aspects of the coup was that Turkey’s political parties stood together in solidarity against the coup and some participants felt that this could be built on to develop a more united country. The main negative aspects include a lack of clarity about when the state of emergency will end and if and how human rights abuses can be stopped. Other major issues discussed included the reactions of the international community to the coup, the state of EU-Turkey accession negotiations (whether the EU should open discussions on chapters on the rule of law and fundamental rights) and the state of talks on visa liberalisation and Turkey’s request to the US to extradite Gulen. It was considered very unlikely that Turkey would introduce the death penalty. EU-Turkey counterterrorism discussions and the possibility of amending Turkey’s anti-terror law were also discussed.

Speakers included: Amanda Paul, Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, Demir Murat Seyrek, a Senior Policy Advisor from the European Foundation for Democracy, Kader Sevinc, CHP EU Representative, PES Presidency Council Member, Samuel Doveri Vesterbye, Director, European Neighbourhood Council, Javier Nino-Perez, Head of Turkey Division, European External Action Service