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August 9, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • Strategic Insight

LATEST
New EU Gas Market Rules Take Effect With Consumer SafeguardsDeforestation Regulation Holds Its December Deadline Despite CutsDigital Omnibus Delays Europe’s High-Risk AI Deadline to 2027Europe’s Schools Confront a Widening Basic Skills GapRule of Law Report Finds Progress but Trust Still LagsIRIS2 Gains 66 Satellites as Brussels Signs the Rollout DealNature Restoration Plans Come Due as Member States Race a DeadlineECB Rates Hold at 2.25 Percent as Frankfurt Waits on the DataEU Budget Talks Turn to Cohesion as Ireland Takes OverWildfire Response Stretches Europe’s Emergency Fleet ThinCan Europe’s Quantum Plan Match Its Big Ambitions?Armenia Edges West as Moscow’s Grip Slips AwayEurope Inherits the World’s Aid Bill It Cannot Fully PayAir Passenger Rights Get Their First Overhaul in Two DecadesErasmus Opens a 5 Billion Euro Round for Skills and MobilityCeuta Crisis Pushes the EU Toward Faster Migrant ReturnsBulky Parcels Face a Packaging Crackdown From August 12Can Europe Build Its Drone Wall Before 2030 Arrives?Indonesia’s Trade Deal With Europe Nears Its Final SignatureEurope Leans on Beijing to Keep Climate Talks Alive Before AntalyaNew EU Gas Market Rules Take Effect With Consumer SafeguardsDeforestation Regulation Holds Its December Deadline Despite CutsDigital Omnibus Delays Europe’s High-Risk AI Deadline to 2027Europe’s Schools Confront a Widening Basic Skills GapRule of Law Report Finds Progress but Trust Still LagsIRIS2 Gains 66 Satellites as Brussels Signs the Rollout DealNature Restoration Plans Come Due as Member States Race a DeadlineECB Rates Hold at 2.25 Percent as Frankfurt Waits on the DataEU Budget Talks Turn to Cohesion as Ireland Takes OverWildfire Response Stretches Europe’s Emergency Fleet ThinCan Europe’s Quantum Plan Match Its Big Ambitions?Armenia Edges West as Moscow’s Grip Slips AwayEurope Inherits the World’s Aid Bill It Cannot Fully PayAir Passenger Rights Get Their First Overhaul in Two DecadesErasmus Opens a 5 Billion Euro Round for Skills and MobilityCeuta Crisis Pushes the EU Toward Faster Migrant ReturnsBulky Parcels Face a Packaging Crackdown From August 12Can Europe Build Its Drone Wall Before 2030 Arrives?Indonesia’s Trade Deal With Europe Nears Its Final SignatureEurope Leans on Beijing to Keep Climate Talks Alive Before Antalya

MEPs Urge EU Sanctions On Turkey’s Justice Minister

Matteo Guendouzi
Senior Reporter, Enlargement

Strasbourg: The European Parliament on 17 June 2026 adopted a report urging the European Union to impose sanctions on Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek over alleged “violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” approving the text by 381 votes in favour. The resolution, the Parliament’s response to the European Commission’s 2025 report on Turkey, frames EU sanctions on Turkey’s justice minister as a proportionate reply to what MEPs describe as a campaign to dismantle the country’s opposition.

What the European Parliament report demands

The non-binding resolution asks the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs to consider listing Gürlek under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, the bloc’s Magnitsky-style tool. The proposed measures would include freezing any assets he holds inside the European Union.

Lawmakers described the minister as “a key actor in the state’s repressive machinery” and “a political actor who follows a political agenda,” singling out his record before his promotion to the cabinet in February 2026.

Why MEPs targeted Gürlek

As İstanbul’s chief public prosecutor between 2024 and 2026, Gürlek oversaw a nearly 4,000-page indictment against Ekrem İmamoğlu, the suspended mayor of İstanbul and a presidential hopeful for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). İmamoğlu faces up to 2,430 years in prison on charges his supporters call politically motivated.

The resolution catalogues a broader erosion of democratic safeguards in Turkey, citing:

  • The detention of Mayor İmamoğlu, whose case the European Court of Human Rights has accepted under its priority procedure.
  • The removal of 28 elected opposition mayors and their replacement by government-appointed trustees.
  • Turkey’s record as the country with the most pending cases before the European Court of Human Rights as of January 2026.
  • EU accession talks frozen since 2018 amid concerns over the rule of law.

Ankara pushes back

Gürlek rejected the Parliament’s draft when it emerged earlier in June, arguing in a written statement that the demand for EU sanctions on Turkey’s justice minister was itself a political act.

“This politically motivated approach, fuelled by certain circles within the European Parliament, undermines the credibility of the institutions these individuals represent,” Gürlek said. “European Parliament reports, however, are political texts of a recommendatory nature.”

Background: a stalled accession and a widening rift

Turkey has been an official EU candidate since 1999, but negotiations have been at a standstill since 2018 as Brussels and Strasbourg repeatedly flag democratic backsliding. The Turkey report was steered through Parliament by Nacho Sánchez Amor, its standing rapporteur on the country, and reflects mounting frustration that successive warnings have produced little change in Ankara.

Because the resolution is non-binding, it does not place Gürlek on a sanctions list; any such decision rests with member states acting by unanimity in the Council. Even so, a parliamentary call for EU sanctions on Turkey’s justice minister marks one of the sharpest rebukes of Ankara in years and adds pressure before the next review of EU-Turkey relations. The full text is published as the Parliament’s 2026 report on Turkey.

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