Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that he will let hundreds of thousands of migrants travel on to Europe if pushed by the EU.<\/p>\n
He was reacting to a non-binding vote by the European Parliament to freeze talks on EU membership for Turkey.<\/p>\n
The MEPs were alarmed by Mr Erdogan’s “disproportionate” response to a failed coup attempt in July.<\/p>\n
The migrant numbers reaching the Greek islands have dropped since an EU-Turkey deal in March to curb the influx.<\/p>\n
President Erdogan accused the EU of breaking its promises. As part of the March deal, Turkey was promised aid, visa-free travel for its nationals and accelerated membership talks.<\/p>\n
“Listen to me: these border gates will be opened if you go any further,” he warned the EU on Friday.<\/p>\n
A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ulrike Demmer, said the deal was in the “interest of all parties” and that “threats on either side are not helpful”.<\/p>\n
If the European Parliament hoped its vote to freeze accession talks with Turkey would prompt President Erdogan to row back on his policies, today came the answer.<\/p>\n
It is Turkey’s trump card: the key role it played in stemming the migrant flow under a deal with the EU to return failed asylum seekers here. And an increasingly combative Mr Erdogan seems ready to play it.<\/p>\n
His tone – and his threat – are classic tactics of a president who knows Europe needs Turkey. And it is a sign that a man not known for a thick skin will not take the European Parliament vote lightly.<\/p>\n
It is non-binding and Europe’s leaders are unlikely to heed it, given how important Turkey is.<\/p>\n
But the bad blood between the two sides is thickening – and the shaky EU-Turkey deal to halt the migrant flow looks more fragile still.<\/p>\n
Turkey currently hosts almost three million migrants, mostly from Syria. Last year more than one million fled to Europe, mainly via Turkey.<\/p>\n
Under the March 2016 agreement, migrants arriving in Greece are now sent back to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or their claim is rejected.<\/p>\n
For each Syrian migrant returned to Turkey, the EU is to take in another Syrian who has made a legitimate request.<\/p>\n
Since then arrivals into Europe have slumped, as have the number of deaths of migrants making the dangerous sea crossing between Turkey and Greece.
\nAttempts to get visa-free travel for Turks stalled as the country refused to change its anti-terror laws and many in Europe have criticised Turkey’s tough response to the failed coup.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that he will let hundreds of thousands of migrants travel on to Europe if pushed by the EU. He was reacting to a non-binding vote by the European Parliament to freeze talks on EU membership for Turkey. The MEPs were alarmed by Mr Erdogan’s “disproportionate” response to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":271711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[591,13925,1308],"yoast_head":"\n