French MEP Christophe Gomar, in an interview with LE JOURNAL DU DIMANCHE – entitled “The EU must stop funding Turkey“- calls for an immediate suspension of Turkey‘s EU accession negotiations.

“In a period of rearmament we must stop unnecessary spending,” Gomar stresses, pointing out that “one third of the territory of an EU member, Cyprus, is occupied by Turkey and this does not seem to bother anyone.”

The French MEP, who belongs to the Republican Party, says, among other things: “Turkey is not a European state, as only 3% of its territory is in Europe, and culturally it belongs neither to the Greco-Latin tradition nor to the Judeo-Christian heritage. On the contrary, Erdogan is multiplying insults and accusations against the EU. In his country, he is violating the freedoms of his political opponents and adopting an imperialist attitude, especially against the Kurds. In addition, it maintains controversial relations with Russia. All these elements lead me to argue that Ankara has no place within the EU. It is time to cut ties with a partner that does not respect its commitments and is becoming toxic.”

After stating that “I don’t know how the 18 billion euros Turkey has received from the EU over the last 28 years have been used, but I am sure they have not been used to bring Turkey into line with EU requirements,” he adds that “even France gives Ankara 235 million euros a year.”

The French MEP also underlines that “in February 2020 Turkey announced that it would no longer block refugees wishing to come to Europe. Erdogan is using a migration blackmail. You give me money, I block the migrants. You give me less, I let them through. We must not remain hostage to this strategy.”

Asked about Turkey’s participation in the recent London Security Conference in Kiev on March 3, at the same time as its economic relations with Russia are strengthening, Gomar points out that “this is exactly one of the problems. That is why its funding from Europe should be stopped. Between the EU and NATO, no information, no data is shared, because the Alliance includes Turkey and the EU includes Cyprus. Ankara acquired S-400 from Russia in 2017, wanting to buy American aircraft at the same time. It is permanently playing a double game: defending its own interests while disregarding those of NATO. We need to get out of this kind of schizophrenia that makes Erdogan pay no attention to the EU.”

Asked whether, in the midst of the current geopolitical situation, it is a mistake to stop accession negotiations with Turkey, given its military and technological strength, the French MEP underlines: “no, because it is not about leaving NATO, but about telling it clearly that it will not join the EU. In any case, Turkey is not implementing sanctions against Russia.”

Finally, when asked if he has seen specific examples that convince him that Turkey is playing a double-board game, he says “yes, when French special forces were working with the Kurds against the Islamic State, Turkey was attacking the Kurds in Syria.“