Turkey Will ‘Open Gates’ to Migrants if EU Membership Bid Paused

Turk and Greek Cypriot negotiators are hoping to reach a deal before the end of the year to unify the island divided since 1974.

A former US Senate foreign policy analyst believes the European Parliament’s decision to shelve accession negotiations with Ankarais not an “overreaction”, adding that there’s no way that Turkey is ever going to be allowed to be a member of the EU.

His furious reaction came after a non-binding resolution was approved on Thursday by the EU Parliament demanding that the bloc freeze membership negotiations with Turkey over the government’s crackdown following the failed coup against Erdogan in July. “Neither me nor my people will be affected by these empty threats”, Erdogan told a congress on women’s justice in Istanbul.

The migrant deal with Turkey – though criticized by human rights groups – has reduced the influx via Turkey to a trickle. “We should also ask ourselves which tools and instruments we have at our disposal in order to increase, and not reduce, our leverage on Turkey’s reforms and on its society”, she said. This news story is related to Latest/167609-EU-should-not-freeze-accession-talks-with-Turkey-Germany-says/ – breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne.

“Do not forget, the west needs Turkey”, he said.

The resolution voted by the European Parliament is not legally binding, because Parliament has no formal role in the initial triggering of such mechanisms, but it has to be informed once this has been done.

In his first speech since the vote, Erdogan warned that any further steps to mothball membership talks or sideline Turkish exchanges with the European Union could set another migrant wave in motion.

The EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, on Tuesday said that if EU membership talks with Turkey fold, both sides will lose out.

Lawmakers debated EU-Turkey relations Tuesday, with the main parties backing a freeze.

“By continuing the illusion of accession talks with an increasingly authoritarian regime, the European Union is losing credibility, is fooling our citizens, and also betraying those Turkish citizens who look to Europe as their future”, said Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the liberal ALDE group.

But, for Turkish citizens, the possibility of visa-free travel to the Schengen area would be a huge achievement, and there is a concern that Turkey may become increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress on the issue.

The vote by the EU Parliament reflected spiralling tensions between Ankara and the bloc after Brussels repeatedly expressed alarm over the magnitude of Turkey’s crackdown after the coup.