Turkey's CHP hits out over delayed EU-membership report

ISTANBUL

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader has criticized the European Union for its postponement of a progress report into the country's prospective membership of the 28-member bloc.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu called on Europe to have "a clearer attitude towards Turkey's becoming a member of the EU".

Speaking in Istanbul on Friday, Kilicdaroglu said he found the EU to be insincere, adding: "The EU has been periodically preparing progress reports on Turkey and sharing them with the public in due time."

He added that the report for this year -- an assessment of what each candidate and potential candidate has achieved over the last year -- was not shared before the country's Nov. 1 general election.

The European Commission announced recently that it had postponed its publication of the 2015 Progress Report on Turkey.

"We do not find it compatible with the ethics of Europe. [...] We do not approve [of the fact] that it was delayed not to affect domestic [Turkish] politics," the CHP leader said.

His remarks came Friday as he met Uruguay's former leader Jose Mujica, who is well-known for his modest lifestyle, often being dubbed the “world's poorest president”.

Mujica, 80, is known for living in a small house and driving a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle, his only car.

The two met in Istanbul at a breakfast and had "a good discussion on democracy and freedoms", Kilicdaroglu said, adding that Mujica wants his country to have an embassy in Turkey.

The Uruguayan politician said: "Latin America is getting united and the world needs to improve relations with this geography.

"China has turned out to be a country [from] which Latin America imports the most. We have to diversify our relations.

“We should appear more in the Mediterranean, Arab world and Asia Minor. That is why we are here," he added.