EU has failed to keep its promises, unlike Türkiye: President Erdogan

ISTANBUL

Türkiye has kept every promise it made to the EU, but the bloc has fulfilled almost none of its promises to Ankara, the Turkish president told parliament on Sunday.

"If they reverse their injustices, especially the visa imposition, which they use as a veiled sanction on us, they will correct their own mistakes,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, referring to a 2016 promise by the EU under a migrant deal to lift the need for Turkish citizens visiting EU countries to get visas.

“If they do not (reverse these), they will completely lose the right to expect anything from us politically, socially, economically, or militarily,” warned Erdogan in a speech marking the start of parliament’s new legislative year.

Although EU leaders have changed over the years, there has been no change in the “biased attitude of the EU towards Türkiye, which is unfair and incompatible with the principle of pacta sunt servanda,” or agreements must be kept, he added.

“Türkiye has no expectations from the EU, whose door we have been kept waiting at 60 years,” he said.

Türkiye applied for EU membership in 1987, and its accession talks began in 2005.

In the years since, talks have been essentially frozen due to political roadblocks by certain EU members, for reasons unrelated to its suitability for membership, according to Ankara.

ISTANBUL

Türkiye has kept every promise it made to the EU, but the bloc has fulfilled almost none of its promises to Ankara, the Turkish president told parliament on Sunday.

“Türkiye has no expectations from the EU, whose door we have been kept waiting at 60 years,” he said.

Türkiye applied for EU membership in 1987, and its accession talks began in 2005.

In the years since, talks have been essentially frozen due to political roadblocks by certain EU members, for reasons unrelated to its suitability for membership, according to Ankara.