EU minister slams European Parliament over ban of Daily Sabah

ANKARA

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Turkish EU Minister Ömer Çelik has criticized the European Parliament for “violating its own values” in its ban on pro-government English-language Daily Sabah at the parliament.

“@Europarl_EN [the European Parliament’s official Twitter account] has already been violating the very values it was founded on.  Imposing a ban on the distribution of a daily newspaper in the @Europarl_EN is a gross violation of press freedom & freedom of speech,” Çelik posted in English on his official Twitter account on March 24.

His comments came after the president of the European Parliament banned the distribution of Daily Sabah at the parliament, upon the request of a Dutch MEP, Jeroen Lenaers, an MEP from the Christian Democratic Appeal Party, on March 23.

Without elaborating on the main motive, European Parliament Press Department Director Marjory van den Broeke stated that the demand originated from some members of the parliament “who had been disturbed by the publishing line of the paper.”

Çelik slammed the ruling of President Antonia Tajani saying the EP and the other EU institutions “should stop preaching to Turkey and immediately look at the mirror to see where the EU is heading.”

“With such gross violations of fundamental rights & freedoms in EU countries & institutions, the far-right is taking over the political sphere,” he wrote on Twitter.

“This ban on media freedom in @Europarl_EN is so tragic now for Europe’s future after decades of efforts for building a Europe of values,” Çelik added.