German parliamentarian Andrej Hunko spoke on PACE’s decision to reinstate the monitoring procedure and said: “It would have been a scandal to not reinstate the monitoring procedure for Turkey.”
PACE member German parliamentarian Andrej Hunko said the decision to reinstate the monitoring procedure for Turkey with a majority vote in the PACE General Assembly yesterday was “a step long overdue” and added: “It would have been a scandal to not reinstate the monitoring procedure for Turkey.”
In the vote held yesterday in the Parliamentarian Assembly of the Council of Europe General Assembly, the Monitoring procedure for Turkey was reinstated after 13 years with 45 votes against and 113 votes for.
PACE member German parliamentarian and Die Linke European Policies Spokesperson Andrej Hunko thinks this decision is a step that was long overdue. Hunko issued a written statement to the press after the decision and pointed out that the human rights violations and political pressure in Turkey have become systemic.
“ARMS TRADE TO TURKEY SHOULD STOP”
The German parliamentarian stated that Turkey had been in the “Post Monitoring” procedures and continued with the following statement:
“But Ankara did not carry out the necessary improvements in the area of human rights, and journalists and politicians were imprisoned. With human rights violations in such a rise and the attempt to build a dictatorial administration, any other decision by PACE would be scandalous.
I hope this decision will be a signal. And I’m calling on the Federal German Government to stop all intelligence and military collaboration with Turkey. Instead of building Panzer factories in Turkey, all arms trade with Turkey should stop.
From now on, developments in Turkey regarding the Monitoring procedure will be watched closely. If the death penalty is back on the agenda in Turkey, that will mean a step in the opposite direction to Council of Europe membership.”
Andrej Hunko visited Turkey and Kurdistan with the title of International Observer during the referendum held on April 16 as part of the Parliamentarian Assembly of the Council of Europe’s 23 person committee sent to Turkey, but was stopped by special operations units in Amed’s Sur district and in Mardin.
In a later statement the German observer pointed out the numerous detentions before the referendum especially in Kurdish cities and mentioned that many people were barred from voting in this way.
Hunko was targeted by the AKP media because of his observations regarding the referendum which he shared with the German press.
