ISTANBUL (AA) – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday following the latter’s remarks that Erdogan would need to make an explanation to Turks if a visa-liberalization deal fails.
In an interview published earlier Wednesday in German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Juncker said that visa requirements for Turkish citizens traveling to the EU could only be lifted if Turkey fulfilled the refugee agreement with the EU plus all other required conditions.
“If Turkey meets all of the 72 conditions for lifting the visa requirement, which we have formulated together, then there will be no reason to refuse their citizens visa-free travel,” Juncker reportedly said.
“However, if Mr. Erdogan seriously tries to break the agreement, then it will be his job to tell the Turks why they cannot not enjoy visa-free travel to Europe,” he added.
Speaking at a commencement ceremony at the Fatih Sultan Mehmet University in Istanbul, Erdogan accused Juncker of “not knowing” Turks.
“You do not know the Turkish nation at all. These people are not after visa-free travel. It is you who are concerned about what might happen if Turkey opens its doors and all refugees walk towards Europe,” he retorted.
“And they are in a stew. When 60,000 people gathered in [border province] Edirne, they got very anxious, and started wondering about whether all those people would cross into Bulgaria or Greece,” he said.
“But in the meantime we are hosting three million refugees. Why? Because we care about people, unlike you. You have no such concerns. All this readmission agreement and other stuff just shows how untrustworthy you all are. You are not keeping your promise.
“And this is your ugly face. Then you get mad when Erdogan shows your ugly face [to the world]. And that is why you are trying to get rid of Erdogan,” he added.
The president also accused the European Union of not accepting Turkey as a member “because it is a Muslim-majority country”.
“You cannot prove otherwise. A former French foreign minister once said this to me in very clear terms: ‘They won’t get you in the EU. You are trying in vain,’ he said. When I asked why, he said it was because we were Muslims.”
The EU and Turkey signed a refugee deal on March 18, which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly three million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
The deal also allows for the acceleration of Turkey’s EU membership bid and visa-free travel for Turkish nationals within the Schengen area, on the condition that Ankara meets 72 requirements set by the EU.
Although Turkey fulfilled most of the criteria last month, differences between Brussels and Ankara on anti-terror legislation have forestalled the visa-liberalization deal.
