Andrew Duff, Liberal Democrat Euro MP for the East of England, is on a
mission to Turkey this week. He will give a lecture at Bilgi University,
Istanbul and have meetings with a number of civil society NGOs, as well as
the Turkish press.
Andrew Duff, who is Vice-President of the European Parliament's committee on
Turkey, says: "This is a crucial week for Turkey, as the supreme court
begins to hear the case brought by the public proseuctor to close the ruling
party, the AKP, and to banish the President Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan
from politics.
"Turkey's progress towards the European Union and its own modernisation will
be put on hold if the country's courts succeed in blocking the political
will of the people as expressed overwhelmingly in the ballot box. Democracy
and civil rights go hand in hand. I hope my visit can serve to help those in
Turkey who are fighting to make it a truly modern European place."
ENDS
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