European condemnation of the crackdown in Turkey that followed the attempted coup in July has come too late, with the country now "burning", the former editor of a leading opposition newspaper says.
Turkish authorities on Saturday ordered that the editor and senior staff of Cumhuriyet newspaper be arrested pending trial and more pro-Kurdish officials were detained. Critics say President Tayyip Erdogan is out to crush legitimate opposition.
Since the failed coup 170 media organisations have been closed, leaving some 2,500 journalists unemployed, according to the Turkish journalists' association.
The European Union stepped up criticism of Turkey's crackdown on opponents, drawing a sharp retort from Ankara, which accused Europe of failing to grasp the threats it faces.
But neither seems ready to take the kind of active reprisal that might completely damage a delicate relationship of mutual dependence.
Brussels needs Ankara to keep stopping migrants reaching Europe and Turkey, seeing its currency hit record lows on instability fears, wants to keep access to European markets.
The EU said recent events in Turkey were "extremely worrying" but that it would maintain dialogue with Ankara on its - all but distant - prospects of joining.
But on the eve of an annual report on Turkey's progress to membership, it ignored calls from some for talks to be halted or for other sanctions.
EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker said in a speech on Tuesday: "I note with bitterness that Turkey is day by day distancing itself further from Europe ... All that the Turkish authorities are doing today leads me to believe that in the end Turkey does not want to ... meet European standards."
Insisting that the EU would not ease visa requirements for Turkish travellers, as promised in the March migrant deal, until Turkey amended its harsh anti-terror law, Juncker cited Erdogan by name and said Turks would blame him for any failure to free up travel to Europe.
For his part, Erdogan said in a speech on Sunday that he did not care being labelled a dictator: "Europe has been on a course that is leading to its own demise," he said.
