AFP, Istanbul :
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the European Union that if it continues threatening his country he will open the border gates and allow hundreds of thousands of migrants to flood into EU countries.
Erdogan, in a speech Friday, reacted furiously to a non-binding resolution approved the previous day by the European Parliament demanding that the bloc freeze membership negotiations with Turkey over the government’s heavy-handed crackdown following a failed coup in July.
“We are the ones who feed 3-3.5 million refugees in this country. You have betrayed your promises,” Erdogan told the EU. “If you go any further those border gates will be opened.”
The EU struck a deal earlier this year to return migrants to Turkey in return for a package including aid for the refugees and accelerated membership talks.
Erdogan has already dismissed the vote as having “no value” as it is non-binding, and as most European Union member states so far want to keep the Turkey talks on track.
But the motion, approved by a big majority, is a fresh blow to ties that have unravelled in the wake of the failed July 15 failed putsch and threatened a key migration deal between Brussels and Ankara.
MEPs voting in Strasbourg, France, said the parliament “strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt”.
They said they remained “committed to keeping Turkey anchored to the EU” but said parliament “calls on the Commission and the Member States, however, to initiate a temporary freeze of the ongoing accession negotiations with Turkey.”
The motion was approved by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions.
A furious Erdogan said on Wednesday that “I want to say in advance from here and address the whole world watching on their TV screens-this vote has no value at all, no matter what result emerges.”
“It is not possible for me to even digest the message that they want to deliver.”
Europe’s message has however been increasingly clear about its concerns over rights and democracy in Turkey, especially over the coup crackdown that has seen almost 37,000 arrested.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the European Union that if it continues threatening his country he will open the border gates and allow hundreds of thousands of migrants to flood into EU countries.
Erdogan, in a speech Friday, reacted furiously to a non-binding resolution approved the previous day by the European Parliament demanding that the bloc freeze membership negotiations with Turkey over the government’s heavy-handed crackdown following a failed coup in July.
“We are the ones who feed 3-3.5 million refugees in this country. You have betrayed your promises,” Erdogan told the EU. “If you go any further those border gates will be opened.”
The EU struck a deal earlier this year to return migrants to Turkey in return for a package including aid for the refugees and accelerated membership talks.
Erdogan has already dismissed the vote as having “no value” as it is non-binding, and as most European Union member states so far want to keep the Turkey talks on track.
But the motion, approved by a big majority, is a fresh blow to ties that have unravelled in the wake of the failed July 15 failed putsch and threatened a key migration deal between Brussels and Ankara.
MEPs voting in Strasbourg, France, said the parliament “strongly condemns the disproportionate repressive measures taken in Turkey since the failed military coup attempt”.
They said they remained “committed to keeping Turkey anchored to the EU” but said parliament “calls on the Commission and the Member States, however, to initiate a temporary freeze of the ongoing accession negotiations with Turkey.”
The motion was approved by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions.
A furious Erdogan said on Wednesday that “I want to say in advance from here and address the whole world watching on their TV screens-this vote has no value at all, no matter what result emerges.”
“It is not possible for me to even digest the message that they want to deliver.”
Europe’s message has however been increasingly clear about its concerns over rights and democracy in Turkey, especially over the coup crackdown that has seen almost 37,000 arrested.
