The Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament strongly condemns the disinformation spread by Turkish government-controlled media against EU Member States and the attacks on European politicians, including S&D MEP Evin Incir. The accusation that they took part in an armed struggle, that they are proxies of foreign organisations and that they take part in terrorist activities are totally absurd. This is a clear sign of increasing Turkish interference in European democratic processes. We urge Turkey to immediately refrain from these unacceptable attacks that undermine European, as well as Turkish, democracies.

The S&Ds will also immediately raise this issue in the special European Parliament committee on foreign interference and disinformation (INGE2). We also demand that the President of the European Parliament condemns it through an official letter to the President of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

Nacho Sánchez Amor, S&D MEP and the European Parliament rapporteur on Turkey, said:

“In the past days, we have seen unacceptable Turkish attacks on our Member States and our colleague Evin Incir from Sweden, as well as against other Swedish politicians, from media proxies of the Turkish ruling elite. This is clear proof of Turkish interference through disinformation in EU political processes.

“As we have stressed many times before, the anti-terrorism provisions in Turkey are too broad and are used in an arbitrary manner for the repression of human rights and of any critical voices in the country, including Turkish journalists, activists and political opponents. Now the same methods and argumentations are being used against European politicians, which can be considered as Turkish interference in European political processes. It is also very dangerous, because by publically formulating such baseless accusations against European politicians, they are exposing them to the risk of being a target for more radical nationalist groups.

“Moreover, by abusing the anti-terrorist legislation, the Turkish authorities diminish the serious nature of this ever-present threat. These current Turkish accusations are a clear example of this.”