×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

Turkey is sending the wrong signals in terms of human rights, Germany warns

by Reuters
Monday, 22 March 2021 09:06 GMT

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas addresses the media after talks with his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis, in Berlin, Germany, March 17, 2021. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

Image Caption and Rights Information

The German Foreign Minister's comments come after Turkey pulled out of a pact designed to counter violence against women

BERLIN, March 22 (Reuters) - Turkey is sending the wrong messages to the European Union by withdrawing from a pact designed to counter violence against women and closing down the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned on Monday.

"What we have seen in the last few days, the ban of the HDP and particularly the pullout of the Istanbul Convention, are absolutely the wrong signals," Maas said as he arrived for a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels.

In the conflict between Turkey and Greece in the eastern Mediterranean, meanwhile, there were signs of a de-escalation, Maas added. The EU had threatened Ankara with sanctions last year after a flare-up of the decades-old dispute.

"Regarding Turkey, there is light and shadow," Maas said. "We will have to discuss these mixed signals coming from Turkey today, and we will continue to aim for an ongoing dialogue - and we will use this dialogue to address issues where we believe Turkey is sending the wrong signals."

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, editing by Marine Strauss)

-->