Turkey: EU Parliament vote to end talks 'terrible mistake'

Ankara: Turkey's European Union affairs minister says a possible European Parliament vote to suspend accession talks with his country would go down in history as a "terrible mistake."

Omer Celik made the comments today at the start of talks with EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn in Ankara, hours before the European Parliament is due to hold a nonbinding vote on a draft report that calls for the suspension of negotiations with Turkey due to concerns over its human rights and democracy.

Celik said Turkey expects "strong solidarity" from European legislators.

"Instead, we are getting calls for the negotiations to be suspended, which is extremely wrong," he said.

The minister also said Turkey would never accept any proposal to reformulate EU-Turkish ties through a series of agreements on immigration, combating terrorism, and trade.