Turkey slams EU report on Turkey's membership prospects "unfair"

The European Union's latest report on Turkey's membership prospects is "unfair and unacceptable," Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakci said on Wednesday.

In the annual report published earlier in the day, the European Commission said there has been "further serious backsliding" in Turkey's judicial system, human rights and stable economic policy.

The report does not accurately assess the current situation in Turkey, especially in its claim that Turkey had distanced itself from the bloc, Kaymakci told a news conference in the capital Ankara.

Ankara expects its European allies to support its fight against security threats, he emphasized.

The European Commission said in its report that even with the lifting of the state of emergency in 2018 following the 2016 failed coup, many of Turkey's "repressive elements" became law.

The actions of the Turkish government had "negatively affected" financial markets, it said.

Turkey has been involved in membership talks with EU since October 2005 but the progress has been extremely slow. It remained stalemate as last year the EU decided that no new chapters open in Turkey's accession talks.