“(EU funds) will not go into our budget but will be spent on refugees.
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A bitter war of words has erupted over the terms of a controversial deal European Union bosses struck with Turkey earlier this year in a bid to bring the migrant criss under control.
Jagland has met senior Turkish officials such as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. Home to one of the largest refugee populations in the world, Turkey is key to a March agreement with the European Union that halted a million refugees and migrants streaming into Europe via Greece’s islands, the biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
Asserting that it is not a threat, Çavuşoğlu said that Ankara has adopted “a devoted attitude” concerning the Readmission Agreement.
The comment echoes a Sunday statement from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who said that Ankara would back out of the agreement if Brussels failed to deliver on its promise of a visa-free travel regime for Turks by October.
Gabriel has been among the many European politicians critical of the reported crackdown on political dissent in Turkey, following last month’s attempted coup.
The EU demands that Turkey fulfil a list of criteria including amending its anti-terrorism laws so they can not be used to target academics, journalists and political dissenters. The EU demands that Turkey fulfill a list of criteria first notably, amending its anti-terrorism laws. “On fulfilling the remaining benchmarks of the visa liberalization roadmap, the Commission continues to provide support and expertise to the Turkish authorities to accelerate the reforms needed to fulfill the remaining requirements”, she added. But they expect us to meet (our) obligations. “I am sorry but these steps will be taken simultaneously”, he said. “Sorry, but we are not a country that you can boss about”.
“The fact is there are conditions for the visa-free policy and they are known to everyone”, said Mr Steinmeier.
Germany has expressed concerns at the crackdown following the failed coup attempt in Turkey, something which has angered the Turkish government.
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Nearly 19,000 people have been detained and tens of thousands suspended from their jobs in the purge, which Prime Minister Binali Yildirim yesterday admitted had inflicted “unfair” treatment on some state sector workers.
