Jennifer Baker is joined by David Lundy, press officer for the GUE/NGL Group, to discuss Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan‘s participation in the Conference of Presidents.

On Tuesday the 21st of January, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan joins the Conference of Presidents in Brussels to highlight a new era in EU-Turkey relations. The current political crisis in Turkey raised European officials’ concern about the state of democracy in Turkey and the independence of its institutions. These issues are likely to be discussed on Tuesday, followed by Turkey’s EU accession negotiations, the Kurdish situation and Turkey’s position on Syria and Iraq. “We hope that the EU leaders will stand up for the democratic rights they claim to defend”, states the GUE/NGL Group press officer.