Turkey will never be a member of the European Union as long as it is governed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, accusing the Turkish president of failing to take accession talks with the bloc seriously.
His remarks in an interview with Bild are likely to further inflame relations between the two NATO allies after Erdogan urged German Turks to boycott Germany’s main parties in next month’s general election, Reuters reported.
“It is clear that in this state, Turkey will never become a member of the EU,” Gabriel said. “It’s not because we don’t want them but because the Turkish government and Erdogan are moving fast away from everything that Europe stands for.”
