Turkish court rejects opposition bid to appeal referendum

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It is a critical week for Turkish-EU relations.

Turkey's main opposition party said on Wednesday it would challenge last-minute changes to voting rules in the referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers at the European Court of Human Rights.

Ankara does not recognize the "entirely political" decision, Erdogan told Reuters news agency, APA reported.

One of Europe's leading human rights bodies has put Turkey back on a watchlist over "serious concerns" about democracy and human rights, putting pressure on the European Union to reassess relations with Ankara. The Commissioner supports that the current status quo is not working for either side and it is time to rethink and reschedule EU-Turkey collaboration. Full membership is not realistic.

"Many words will be spoken but I am not sure we are ready to have this discussion, maybe better not to open it since we don't know really where we want to land", a senior European Union diplomat said. Tens of thousands of people, including military personnel, judges and teachers, have been suspended, dismissed or detained as part of the post-coup crackdown.

Some other states fear that could see Turkey act on threats to end a year-old agreement which has stemmed the flow of migrants to Greece and on to Germany. Berlin and the Hague cited security concerns. PACE rapporteurs Marianne Mikko and Ingebjørg Godskesen strictly criticized Turkey's decisions in the state of emergency conditions, which has been extended for three times already after the attempted coup.

Orban said that while the quality of democracy was important, the priority for Europe in Turkey was its stability.

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In his testimony, Harris also endorsed Trump administration statements that the US goal isn't to topple Kim's regime. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who spoke to Trump on Monday, is urging restraint from both Pyongyang and Washington.

He said Turkey needs a fundamental constitutional change people can reach a consensus on.

In the wake of the referendum, members of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation have raised doubts about Turkey's continuing role in the alliance.

"It may be a more hard relationship but it will be a more honest relationship".

Piri said any suspension should only come if and when the "authoritarian constitution" is enacted, which would happen after Turkey holds its next election, now due in late 2019.

The report also expresses the Monitoring Committee's concern about the detention of parliamentarians and journalists, repeated violations of the freedom of expression and of the media and the situation in south-east Turkey, leading to a serious deterioration of the functioning of democratic institutions.

Kati Piri, a Dutch Labour MEP who specialises in EU-Turkey relations, said the EU would have to reassess its position on Turkey.

"Turkey should remain a candidate country but we're negotiating with the government. It's become clear over the last two years that this government doesn't want to meet criteria".

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