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Istanbul pride, in 2013, attracted 50,000 people. Police, this year, fired water cannon and tear gas at activists (Photo: Quinn Dombrowski)

Feature

No place for human rights in EU-Turkey visa talks

Istanbul pride, in 2013, attracted 50,000 people. Police, this year, fired water cannon and tear gas at activists (Photo: Quinn Dombrowski)

The EU has a formidable instrument to promote its values overseas: visa-free travel. It worked in Ukraine. But it’s not being used in Turkey, in what rights activists increasingly see as a cynical transaction on migrants.

Ukraine is to get a positive visa recommendation from the European Commission by the end of December.

It had to meet technical standards, for instance, on passport security. But, back in 2010, it was also given a 10-point political to-do list, including anti-corr...

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

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