Turkey will never become an EU member under Erdogan - German FM

Turkey will never be a member of the European Union as long as Tayyip Erdogan is still president, said, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who accused Erdogan of failing to take accession talks with the bloc seriously.

Grabriel made the remarks in an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper, on Thursday when he made damning criticism of President Erdogan’s government, which is likely to further inflame relations between the two countries. 

The remarks comes after Erdogan called on all Turks in Germany to vote against Germany’s main parties in next month’s general election.

It is clear that in this state, Turkey will never become a member of the EU, Gabriel said.

It’s not because we don’t want them but because the Turkish government and Erdogan are moving fast away from everything that Europe stands for.

The EU have been critical of Erdogan’s crackdown on opponents since a failed military coup against his government in July last year. 

Erdogan says the crackdown are needed to help tackle serious challenges to Turkey’s security both at home and beyond its borders.