Turkey rejects EU criticism on human rights and rule of law

Turkey on Tuesday rejected as "unfair" a European Union report criticising the state of the rule of law, human rights and media freedom in the EU candidate country.

Some of the report's observations are "unfair and even partly disproportionate, and ignore the freedom-security balance required in a democratic country governed by the rule of law", the ministry responsible for EU affairs said in a statement.

It also dismissed as "unacceptable" EU criticism about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's use of powers as laid down in the constitution. 

The report - which was released on Tuesday but was slated to be published before the 1 November election that swept Erdogan's party back to power - rebuked Ankara for "serious backsliding" on freedom of expression and said the judiciary had been undermined.

Turkey's EU ministry said however that Ankara had adopted several reform packages in recent years to bolster freedom of expression and an "independent and unbiased" judiciary.

A string of high-profile raids against media groups deemed hostile to Erdogan and the jailing of critical journalists have raised fears about the state of democracy in Turkey.

The leader of the opposition Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, last week charged that the EU's "hypocritical" policies towards Ankara were helping to build an "oppressive regime" under "one-man rule", protesting at the delay in issuing the report.

The Turkish ministry said it would "carefully take note of fair and reasonable criticism" but that "unfair" comments would be brought to the EU Commission's attention.

"We will continue to take necessary steps in the coming period in order to attain higher standards in the spheres of fundamental rights, freedoms and rule of law," it said. 

Speaking to CNN International on Monday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu admitted Turkey needed to do more to upgrade its democracy and that he would be announcing new political and economic reforms in the next two weeks.

Turkey began accession talks with the EU in 2005 but the talks have stalled over a number of disputes including Ankara's performance on human rights and democracy. 

Brussels however praised Turkey for housing Syrian refugees and for cooperating on the migration crisis. 

"Our experiences show we can easily overcome in solidarity the challenges facing us," the Turkish ministry said, calling for a "new impetus" in Ankara's accession process.