European Parliament passes motion to block Turkey membership

Lawmakers in the European Parliament in Strasbourg have voted to adopt a motion to freeze Turkey's accession to the EU, after a government crackdown on dissent following the failed coup in the country earlier this year.

The vote in the parliament is not a binding one, but it will add to the calls for states in Europe to halt the process, after what some have seen as heavy-handed tactics by Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government in recent months.

A further 15,000 public officials were dismissed this week, taking the total number of people removed as civil servants, police or military to over 100,000 since the coup attempt in July.

479 MEPs voted in favour of the motion which amended EU-Turkey relations, with 37 against and 107 abstentions.

Turkey has already become angered at the drawn-out nature of the process thus far, and reports had suggested that they were considering pulling out of the deal before the end of this year if further developments had not been made.

"The European Parliament strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt in July," the motion said.

A mass crackdown on opposition figures took place in Turkey in the second half of this year, with teachers, journalists, and civil servants thought in any way to be associated with cleric Fethullah Gullen jailed. The government believes the Pennsylvania-based cleric was the mastermind of the putsch.

Erdogan said on Wednesday that the outcome of Thursday's vote was not important.

"We have made clear time and time again that we take care of European values more than many EU countries, but we could not see concrete support from Western friends ... None of the promises were kept," he told a conference in Istanbul.