Turkey still committed to EU membership despite bloc's failed promises -Erdogan

Turkey still committed to EU membership despite bloc's failed promises -Erdogan
FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia April 8, 2019. Maxim Shipenkov/Pool via REUTERS Copyright POOL New(Reuters)
Copyright POOL New(Reuters)
By Reuters
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ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey maintains its commitment to a full European Union membership even though the bloc has not kept its promises, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, a day after an EU report criticised Ankara on its judiciary and economic state.

Announcing a number of judiciary reforms in Ankara, Erdogan said they would effectively ban only "problematic" sections of websites instead of imposing a full access ban.

Online encyclopedia Wikipedia has been blocked in Turkey since 2017 over a law that allows authorities to ban access to websites deemed a threat to national security.

Erdogan also said Turkey remained committed to its "zero tolerance" policy on torture - two days after an Ankara lawyers' group said five foreign ministry personnel reported they had been tortured and mistreated in custody.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)

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