QA-34, 26 April 2018, Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hami Aksoy, in response to a question regarding the statements on Turkey by Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission at the Greek Parliament

Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Dışişleri Bakanlığı 27.04.2018

We have observed that Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, during his speech at the Greek Parliament today (26 April), continued the habit of making judgements, as if he were an expert, under the so-called “Union solidarity”. With such statements based on the Greek Cypriot and Greek claims, EU officials and institutions lose more of their credibility and reliability each passing day. We reject these frivolous statements that lack any legal foundation.

We are also astonished by Mr Juncker’s call for the release of the two Greek soldiers who are in custody in Turkey. The Greek soldiers who have violated the Turkish law do not enjoy any immunity before the independent judiciary. We condemn this hypocritical approach, which reminds the rule of law whenever it suits, and yet doesn’t refrain from making statements amounting to intervening in the ongoing judicial process when it befits its interests.