(MENAFN) Turkey's long quest to join the European Union is likely to end in failure unless Ankara reverses its post-coup clamp-down on civil rights, press freedoms and the judiciary, the bloc's top official in charge of ties with Turkey said.
While Ankara is a crucial ally in Brussels' efforts to stop migrants reaching Europe, the European Commission, which handles the bloc's expansion, fears Turkey is becoming increasingly authoritarian and is concerned about the viability of its EU bid.
"It is certainly not heading in the European direction," said European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who voiced incomprehension at the scale of President Tayyip Erdogan's purge of judges, teachers and the military following a July coup attempt in Turkey.
As the Commission published on Wednesday its most critical annual report yet of Turkey's progress in joining the bloc, Hahn said the democratic values central for any country to join the European Union were not up for negotiation.
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