Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

▸11 unchanged paragraphs

on the 2025 Commission report on Türkiye

(2025/2256(INI))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the European Council conclusions of 17 and 18 April 2024, 30 June 2023, 23 June 2022, 24 June 2021 and 12 December 2019, and to all relevant previous Council and European Council conclusions,

– having regard to Türkiye’s membership of the Council of Europe and NATO,

– having regard to the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Turkey on the readmission of persons residing without authorisation1 (EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement),

– having regard to the statement of the members of the European Council of 25 March 2021 on Türkiye,

– having regard to the EU-Turkey statements of 18 March 2016 by the Council and of 29 November 2015 by the European Council,

– having regard to the EU’s Turkey Negotiating Framework of 3 October 2005,

– having regard to the declaration issued by the European Community and its Member States on 21 September 2005 following the declaration made by Türkiye upon its signature of the Additional Protocol to the Ankara Agreement on 29 July 2005,

– having regard to the Council conclusions of 11 December 2006 and 6 March 2020, and to the Presidency conclusions of the Copenhagen European Council of 21 and 22 June 1993, also known as the Copenhagen criteria,

Changed– having regard to the Council Presidency conclusions on enlargement of 16 December 2025, and to the Council conclusions of 17 December 2024 and of 12 December 2023,

Changed– having regard to the Internationalinternational Lawlaw of the Seasea andas reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which establishes the legal framework governing maritime zones and the sovereign rights of coastal states,

Changed– having regard to the Commission communication of 4 November 2025 entitled ‘2025 Communication on EU enlargement policy’ (COM(2025)0690) and to the accompanying Commission staff working document entitled ‘Türkiye 2025 Report’ (SWD(2024)0756),(SWD(2025)0756),

– having regard to the European Court of Auditors Special Report 06/2024 of 24 April 2024 entitled ‘The Facility for Refugees in Turkey – Beneficial for refugees and host communities, but impact and sustainability not yet ensured’,

– having regard to the joint communications from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 29 November 2023 (JOIN(2023)0050) and of 22 March 2021 (JOIN(2021)0008) on the state of play of EU-Türkiye political, economic and trade relations,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 25 September 2025 entitled ‘Ninth Annual Report of the Facility for Refugees in Türkiye’ (COM(2025)0517),

Removed– having regard to the fundamental principles of international law and to the UN Charter, the 1977 and the 1979 High-Level Agreements between the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, and the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council on Cyprus, including Resolution 186 (1964) of 4 March 1964, which reaffirms the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus, Resolution 550 (1984) of 11 May 1984 on secessionist actions in Cyprus, Resolution 789 (1992) of 25 November 1992, and Resolution 2537 (2020) of 28 July 2020 on the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP),

Added– having regard to the European Committee of the Regions resolution of 3 April 2025 on the Arrest of Turkish Mayors and the Assault on Local Democracy in Türkiye,

Added– having regard to the European Committee of the Regions opinion of 5 March 2026 on the 2025 Enlargement Package – Western Balkans and Türkiye,

Added– having regard to the fundamental principles of international law and to the UN Charter, the 1977 and the 1979 High-Level Agreements between the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, and the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Cyprus, including Resolution 186 (1964) of 4 March 1964, which reaffirms the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus, Resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984) of 11 May 1984 on secessionist actions in Cyprus, Resolution 789 (1992) of 25 November 1992, the UNSC Presidential Statement of 23 July 2021 on Varosha, the UNSC Presidential Statement and the UNSC resolutions on the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), the mandate of which was extended until 31 January 2027 by Resolution 2815 (2026),

▸5 unchanged paragraphs

– having regard to Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which states that the contracting parties undertake to abide by the final judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in any case to which they are parties, and to the ensuing obligation of Türkiye to implement all judgments of the ECtHR,

– having regard to the relevant resolutions of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe,

– having regard to Declaration 12(2025) of the Congress of the Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe of 27 March 2025, entitled ‘Dismissals of Mayors in Türkiye’,

– having regard to the report adopted by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe at its session of 9 and 10 October 2025 on the impact of the pre-trial detention of mayors on the exercise of local democratic governance,

– having regard to the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders,

Changed– having regard to the 2024 CorruptionMonitoring PerceptionsReport Index2025 published by TransparencyMedia International,Freedom Rapid Response,

Added– having regard to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Istanbul Convention,

Added– having regard to the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index published on 10 February 2026 by Transparency International,

– having regard to the document of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of 22 November 2025, entitled ‘Republic of Türkiye: Staff Concluding Statement of the 2025 Article IV Mission’,

Added– having regard to the Global Gender Gap Report 2025 published on 11 June 2025 by the World Economic Forum,

– having regard to the UNESCO statement of 10 July 2020 on Hagia Sophia, and to the relevant UNESCO World Heritage Committee decisions 44 COM 7B.58 (2021) and 45 COM 7B.58 (2023) on historic areas of Istanbul, adopted at the 44th and 45th sessions respectively,

Changed– having regard to all its previousresolution resolutionsof 11 March 2026 on Türkiye,the EU enlargement strategy,

– having regard to its resolution of 29 February 2024 on deepening EU integration in view of future enlargement2,

Added– having regard to its resolution of 12 February 2026 on the targeted expulsions of foreign journalists and foreign Christians in Türkiye under national security pretexts,

Added– having regard to all its previous resolutions on Türkiye,

– having regard to its resolutions on Cyprus,

Added– having regard to its resolution of 15 April 2015 on the centenary of the Armenian Genocide,

– having regard to Rule 55 of its Rules of Procedure,

Changed– having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A10-0000/2025),(A10-0106/2026),

Change 1

ChangedA. whereas Türkiye remains a candidate for EU accession,accession; andwhereas EU membership remains the repeatedly declared political goal of the Turkish Government, although the gap with values and principles as enshrined in the valuesArticle 2 of the Treaty on European Union and interestssome policies of the EU is continuing to grow; whereas Türkiye needs to credibly demonstrate its commitment to closer relations and alignment with the European Union, to respect and uphold the Copenhagen criteria including the EU’s foreign and security policy, to normalise its relations with all EU Member States, and to pursue and maintain good neighbourly relations with the EU and all of its Member States in order to reinvigorate its European perspective; whereas Türkiye has repeatedly been asked to refrain from all actions that violate the sovereignty and sovereign rights of all EU Member States and that are in breach of international and EU law;

Change 2

ChangedB. whereas in itsEU latestaccession progressnegotiations reporthave ofeffectively 2025,been theat Commissiona oncestandstill againsince identified2018, inowing Türkiyeto seriousthe backslidingdeterioration inof the rule of law and ademocracy deterioratingin humanTürkiye rightsand situation,in anda raisedcontext questionsof abouttense adherencebilateral torelations basicat democraticthat principles;time;

Change 3

RemovedC. whereas the recent period has been marked by a severe deterioration in local democracy in Türkiye;

AddedC. whereas in its latest progress report of 2025, the Commission once again identified serious backsliding in the rule of law and a deteriorating human rights situation in Türkiye, and raised questions about adherence to basic democratic principles, vis-à-vis the previous reporting period in 2024;

RemovedD. whereas Türkiye is a member of the Council of Europe and is therefore bound by the judgments of the ECtHR;

AddedD. whereas the state of independence of the judiciary remains especially alarming, despite the 11 ‘judicial packages’ enacted by the Turkish Government since 2019; whereas the constitutional order of the country is jeopardised as the authority of the Constitutional Court is undermined by lower-level courts refusing to implement its rulings;

RemovedE. whereas Türkiye is going through a political process entitled ‘Terror-free Türkiye’, with the aim of ending political violence and the Kurdish conflict;

AddedE. whereas double standards clearly exist before the law, as evidenced by the very different treatment of similar cases, particularly in political or high-profile judicial procedures or in cases involving charges of insulting state officials;

RemovedF. whereas beyond the accession process, constructive engagement in EU-Türkiye relations is needed;

AddedF. whereas Türkiye has systematically instrumentalised criminal law and counterterrorism laws to crack down on elected officials, opposition politicians and human rights defenders; whereas the recent period has been marked by a severe deterioration in democratic standards and processes in Türkiye, both on the local and the national level, as a result of judicial decisions and governmental pressure exerted on opposition mayors and municipalities; whereas a total of 28 mayors from opposition parties, specifically 18 from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and 10 from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), were arrested and removed from office; whereas in 11 cases, mayors were replaced with trustees appointed by the government;

RemovedG. whereas Türkiye continues to host the one of the largest refugee populations in the world;

AddedG. whereas the democratically elected Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, has been in prison since 19 March 2025 on trumped-up charges that bear the hallmarks of political pressure and are in blatant violation of basic principles of criminal law, such as the principle of individual responsibility; whereas this is widely considered an attempt to politically eliminate the main opposition candidate for the next presidential elections;

RemovedH. whereas Türkiye’s alignment with the EU’s common foreign and security policy has reached an all-time low of 4 %;

AddedH. whereas there are currently around 800 files pending before the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (GNAT) requesting the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of current members of parliament (MPs); whereas an overwhelming proportion of the requests affect MPs from opposition parties, mainly DEM and CHP;

RemovedI. whereas the EU-Türkiye trade relationship is particularly extensive, with Türkiye being the EU’s fifth largest trading partner and the EU being Türkiye’s largest trading partner;

AddedI. whereas Türkiye is a member of the Council of Europe and is therefore legally bound by the judgments of the ECtHR; whereas owing to its failure to apply landmark ECtHR rulings, Türkiye is currently facing historic infringement proceedings; whereas Türkiye consistently ranks among the countries most frequently found to be in violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms protected by the ECHR; whereas in January 2026, Türkiye had the highest number of pending cases before the ECtHR, accounting for over a third of the court’s total case list;

AddedJ. whereas Türkiye is classified as ‘not free’ by Freedom House and has experienced one of the worst declines in the level of freedom in the world in the past 11 years; whereas the 2025 World Press Freedom Index indicates further deterioration and places Türkiye as the 159th out 180 countries for press freedom, with the report underlining that authoritarianism is gaining ground in Türkiye, media pluralism is being called into question and all possible means are being used to undermine critics; whereas, according to Reporters Without Borders and the BIA Media Monitoring Reports, between 20 and 29 journalists were jailed during 2025, 3 others were held under house arrest for months and dozens more were subjected to judicial control in ways that violated their freedom of movement; whereas in the same period a total of 58 journalists were either detained or forcibly brought in for questioning by the police;

AddedK. whereas Türkiye ranked 135th out of 146 countries in the 2025 Global Gender Gap Index, underscoring severe gender inequality and systemic failures in protecting women’s rights; whereas according to data from the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, in 2025, there were 297 suspicious deaths of women and 294 femicides, while other sources reported figures as high as 420; whereas 2025 saw a record rise in suspicious deaths involving women in Türkiye; whereas the lack of a comprehensive official data collection system on femicides remain a serious concern; whereas Türkiye stands out as one of the OECD countries most affected by violence against women;

AddedL. whereas according to local human rights organisations IHD and TIHV, Türkiye’s prison population had reached a record 433 543 inmates as at 2 December 2025, marking a sevenfold increase over the past two decades, while another 460 921 people were subject to judicial supervision; whereas these organisations also documented 1 412 sick prisoners, including 335 in serious condition; whereas Turkish prisons operate beyond their capacity, exacerbating problems such as overcrowding, inadequate living environments and limited access to basic resources; whereas reports of human rights violations in prisons have increased;