ANKARA, April 24 (KUNA) -- The Turkish government on Tuesday dismissed the Council of Europe's call for it to postpone its early elections as an unacceptable interference in internal elections.
The Turkish people were not electing president of the Council of Europe or the leader of any other country, but the president of the Turkey, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said statement carried by the Anadolu News Agency.
This was an unacceptable interference in the Turkey's internal affairs, he commented.
He accused the Council Europe of adopting double standards in handling similar situations.
When France held elections in 2017 under the state of emergency, the Council of Europe didn't urge France to postpone the elections, but when it comes to Turkey, it brought up the EU criteria and resorted to double standards, Bozdag argued.
Bozdag's remarks came after PACE's monitoring committee on Tuesday called on Turkey to postpone the June 24 early elections, claiming Turkey is not complying with the EU criteria.
The Turkish parliament on Friday passed a bill calling for early elections on June 24. (end) rs.ibi