John Kerry warns Turkey: Nato membership is at stake

John Kerry warns Turkey: Nato membership is at stake
By Euronews
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Leaders from the EU, US and Germany have warned Turkey over its response to a failed coup attempt last Friday The US secretary of state has warned Turkey that any undemocratic response to the movement

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Leaders from the EU, US and Germany have warned Turkey over its response to a failed coup attempt last Friday

The US secretary of state has warned Turkey that any undemocratic response to the movement could put its NATO membership at risk.

Thousands of people have been arrested across the country since Friday.

John Kerry was speaking in Brussels at a meeting of EU foreign ministers. He said: “obviously, Nato has a requirement with respect to democracy and Nato will indeed measure very carefully what is happening.”

The EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini also warned that any hopes of EU membership would be gone if Turkey reintroduces the death penalty.

“No country can become a EU member state if it introduces the dead penalty, that is very clear in our ‘aquis’ as we call it. […] this is no excuse to take the country away from fundamental rights and rule of law and we will be extremely vigilant on that,” she said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also spoke to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, her spokesman said.

She expressed great concern over the arrests and stressed her opposition to the death penalty.

Euronews correspondent in Brussels says John Kerry is also in the Belgian capital to discuss the final phase of the Obama administration, particularly the refugee summit that the US President is organising on the 20th September, a day after a special United Nations meeting about refugees.

Ministers are also due to discuss the Nice attack but there are not expected to be any formal discussions about Britain’s EU exit.

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