Turkey slams Council of Europe's criticism over snap polls
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag accuses the European human rights organisation of "double standards," as France was not crticised for holding polls under a state of emergency in 2017.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag Bozdag called the EU's remarks "unacceptable" and "interference in Turkey's internal affairs" after calls to postpone June 24 snap elections.
The Council of Europe urging Turkey to postpone snap elections shows double standards, as no one has made an issue over France doing the same, Turkey's deputy premier said on Tuesday.
"When France held [2017] elections during the state of emergency, PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) didn't mind election security and didn't urge France to postpone the elections," Bekir Bozdag wrote on his Twitter account.
"But when it comes to Turkey, it (PACE) brings up the EU criteria, state of emergency and election security, which is ironic and shows double standards."
Bozdag's remarks came after PACE's monitoring committee called on Turkey to postpone June 24 early elections, saying Turkey was not complying with EU criteria.
TRT World's Hasan Abdullah has more from Ankara.
EU 'interference' unacceptable
Bozdag called the EU's remarks "unacceptable" and "interference in Turkey's internal affairs."
The Turkish parliament on Friday passed a bill calling for early elections on June 24.
Turkey declared a state of emergency for the first time on July 20, 2016, following the defeated coup by the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO), which left 249 people dead and more than 2,000 injured.
Separately, Turkey's EU affairs minister Omer Celik also slammed the Council of Europe's remarks, calling it an intrusion in the sovereign decision of Turkish citizens.
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