YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Turkey is moving away from the European Union by trying to pull up all the drawbridges, but Europe keeps its doors open for the Turkish people and all those who want to cooperate with the EU based on common values, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in his annual address at the European Parliament on September 13, TASS reports.

“For some considerable time, Turkey has been moving away from the European Union in leaps and bounds”, Juncker said.

He also criticized the Turkish authorities’ persecutions against journalists calling on to immediately release the European reporters from prison. “I appeal to the Turkish authorities: Release our journalists. Stop insulting our leaders by calling them fascists and Nazis”, he said.

Juncker said ‘Europe is a continent of mature democracy’. “Those who knowingly offend it pull up all drawbridges. Sometimes I have the impression that there are those in Turkey who want to pull up all the drawbridges and later blame the EU for the failure of accession talks”, the European Commission President said.