Defense Ministry spokesman Jens Flosdorff said authorities in Ankara had refused a routine trip by a German deputy defense minister and a handful of German lawmakers who had wanted to visit the troops on the Incirlik air base in July. “Turkey has never been a burden on the EU”, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told a news conference in Ankara.
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“EU does not accept Turkey’s membership as the majority of our citizens are Muslims”.
“We knew it but we tried to show our sincerity”, Erdogan said at a graduation ceremony in Istanbul on Wednesday, the eve of Britain’s “Brexit” vote, quipping that Turkey too could hold such a referendum.
Britain’s Brexit campaign and the rise of Europe’s populist right have further dented Turkish hopes of ever joining the European Union, leaving President Tayyip Erdogan largely indifferent to its criticism and weakening an anchor of Turkish reform.
Prime Minister David Cameron countered that Turkish membership was not “remotely on the cards” and may not happen until the year 3000.
European Union member states will meet on the same day to agree to open a new negotiating chapter with Turkey on finance and budget affairs in its membership bid, sources in Brussels said on Wednesday. All 28 member states must agree unanimously.
“Turkish officials do not now approve of the travel plans”, a ministry spokesman said, confirming a report published by the website of the German magazine Spiegel. It points out that the British Foreign Office has a dedicated team in Ankara working to prepare Turkey for membership.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the European Union doesn’t want Turkey to join the 28-member bloc because it’s a “Muslim-majority country” and he is now considering holding a referendum on whether to continue with efforts to join the bloc.
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Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts. The way Mr Cameron put it, we feel really, really taken in.
