Brussels has voiced its strongest criticism yet of the surge in violence in EU candidate Turkey, calling for a renewed peace effort with the Kurds and expressing its concern about the dramatic curtailing of press freedoms.
While the European Commission praised Ankara for taking in millions of Syrians in its annual report of the country's progress towards EU membership, it also had blunt advice for President Tayyip Erdogan and its newly re-elected AK Party.
"The Commission hopes to see an end to the escalating violence in Turkey and the return to negotiations on a lasting solution on the Kurdish issue," Johannes Hahn, the commissioner in charge of EU enlargement, told the European Parliament.
"In the past year, significant shortcomings affected the independence of the judiciary as well as freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, in particular as regards increased pressure and intimidation of journalists."
The report, which was delayed until after Turkey's November 1 elections in a gesture towards Mr Erdogan, showed the extremely delicate task facing the European Union as it seeks urgent help from Ankara with its biggest migration in decades.
Given the deterioration on human rights, there are concerns Nato member Turkey even still meets the criteria to become a member of the EU, the world's biggest trading bloc.
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