Turkey-EU ties in tailspin

Turkey yesterday accused the EU of "encouraging" the plotters on the night of the July 15 coup in an escalating row that has raised questions over Ankara's future relationship with the bloc.

A day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a highly-symbolic visit to Russia, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkish people's confidence in the EU had "unfortunately fallen" in the wake of the coup, saying the bloc "failed a test" on the night of the putsch.

"Let me say openly, this is because the EU adopted a favourable position to the coup (and) encouraged the putschists," the minister told reporters during a televised briefing in the capital Ankara without expanding further.

He claimed support for the EU -- which Turkey has sought to join since the 1960s -- had plummeted to some 20 percent.

Relations between Brussels and Ankara have become increasingly strained since Turkey launched a crackdown, imprisoning and dismissing tens of thousands within the military, judiciary and education in the wake of the putsch which it has blamed on US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.

The EU has urged Ankara to act within the rule of law while condemning Erdogan for suggesting the country could bring back the death penalty, abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey's reforms to join the union.

Meanwhile, Nato said yesterday that Turkey's membership of the military alliance is "not in question" following the failed coup in July as the organisation stressed its "very clear position" of continued support for Ankara.

"Turkey's Nato membership is not in question," spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in a statement issued in response to "speculative press reports".