President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Friday, November 25 to open Turkey‘s borders to allow migrants to reach the EU, in a move that would tear up a landmark deal that has reduced the flow, AFP reports.
Erdogan’s comments, some of his toughest in recent times against the European Union, prompted an immediate warning from Germany which helped broker the deal that such “threats” were unhelpful.
The threat came a day after the European Parliament angered Ankara by backing a freeze in EU accession talks, already hit by alarm over its crackdown in the wake of the July 15 failed coup.
“Listen to me. If you go any further, then the frontiers will be opened, bear that in mind,” Erdogan told the EU during a speech in Istanbul.
He said Brussels had cried out for help in 2015 as tens of thousands of migrants massed at Turkey’s border crossing with EU member Bulgaria.
“You began to ask us ‘what will we do if Turkey opens its borders’?” he asked.
On March 18, Ankara and Brussels forged a deal for Turkey to halt the flow of migrants to Europe — an accord that has largely been successful in reducing numbers crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.
Hundreds of migrants have drowned in the Aegean en route from Turkey to EU member Greece on unseaworthy boats.
They included three-year-old Syrian Aylan Kurdi, with the images of his lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach spurring the international community into action.
Turkey agreed to step up maritime and land border controls in exchange for incentives on its long-stalled membership bid, including visa-free travel for its citizens and an acceleration of accession talks.
However with an October target passing, no apparent progress on the visa issue and the accession talks stalled, Ankara has accused Brussels of failing to keep its side of the bargain.
In response to Erdogan’s remarks, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said the deal was in the interest “of all parties” and that “threats on either side are not helpful”.
“Where there are difficulties, we need to resolve them,” she added.
Erdogan said while Turkey itself was looking after three million refugees — mainly 2.7 million Syrians from the civil war, but also Iraqis — but “you (the EU) did not fulfil your promises”.
“You never acted honourably, you did not act right,” he told the bloc.
He has also accused Brussels of failing to fulfil a promise to deliver some six billion euros ($6.3 billion) in aid for refugees. The EU says the money is to be transferred gradually for individual projects and not in a single payment.
On Thursday, two people died and two others were badly burnt when a fire broke out on the Greek island of Lesbos, where many migrants who crossed from Turkey are housed.
The European Parliament has voted to freeze long-term plans for Turkey to join the EU in what is widely seen as a response to Ankara’s crackdown on political opposition and independent media since July’s failed coup, The Independent reports.
STRASBOURG, France—The leaders of the European Parliament’s two largest groups called on Tuesday for the European Union to halt membership talks with Turkey because of its post-coup purges.
PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenia and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed a grant agreement under the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) to support the completion of the North-South Road Corridor, a strategic part of Armenia’s transport infrastructure.
The European Commission has registered regress in Turkey regarding the spheres of justice, human rights, freedom of speech and media, as well as a number of other sectors.
Turkish novelist Asli Erdogan has been in jail since August 19 for alleged links to Kurdish militants. She has written an urgent plea for European leaders to speak out against current developments in Turkey.
YEREVAN. — Europe and Russia must work with Armenia and Azerbaijan to reduce the cases of escalation in Karabakh conflict area, German Bundestag member, chairman of the Armenian-German forum Albert Weiler told 
A pair of Yazidi women’s advocates have been awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The 50,000-euro prize for human rights has been handed out since 1988.
The European Union has initiated the EU for Business Week meetings in Armenia in an effort to promote economic growth in the country.