Duff says Erdogan should be invited to EU summit in december

A report prepared by Ria Oomen-Ruijten, the European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, was discussed at the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. Speaking on behalf of the Liberal Group, Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for East of England, stressed that it was important for Turkey, EU and NATO to follow overlapping policies amid international crises suffered by the Middle East, Mediterranean and the Sahel belt. Duff also underlined that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan should be invited to an EU summit to be held in December in order to discuss security and defense policies. For his part, Oomen-Ruijten said that the chapters regarding judiciary and fundamental rights, as well as freedom and security should be opened in Turkey’s membership talks with the EU. "If we talk about judiciary and fundamental rights in Turkey, the official criteria for opening such chapters should be known," Oomen-Ruijten noted. The report will be voted today at the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs today.