Merkel Tells Turkey that Human Rights 'Non-Negotiable'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday said she was glad Turkey could resume EU membership talks but stressed, after Ankara's crackdown on protesters, that for Europe human rights are "non-negotiable".

The European side "didn't pretend that nothing had happened" in its recent talks with Turkey, she said, referring to the tough response by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government against the anti-government demonstrators.

The outcome of the EU talks with Ankara "makes clear that Turkey is an important partner," she told parliament.

"But our European values -- the freedom to demonstrate, the freedom of speech, the rule of law, the freedom of religion -- they apply always. They are non-negotiable for us."

Erdogan faces the biggest challenge to his decade-plus rule in the form of mass anti-government demonstrations.

Protests initially sparked by a brutal police action against a local conservation battle to save Istanbul's Gezi Park snowballed into nationwide demonstrations against the Islamic-rooted government, leaving four dead and nearly 8,000 injured.

Turkey began EU accession talks in 2005 but so far has agreed with the EU only one of 35 chapters needed to gain entry into the EU club.

Negotiations now are expected to kick off again in the autumn.

A delay would have raised fresh doubts about whether the predominantly Muslim country of 76 million people will ever be admitted to the European club.

Germany, the biggest EU economy, is home to around three million people with Turkish roots, and is also Turkey's biggest trading partner.