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Turkey's EU minister rejects any option other than full membership

Ersin Çelik
11:07 - 19/01/2018 Cuma
Update: 11:12 - 19/01/2018 Cuma
REUTERS
Turkey's EU Minister Çelik receives EU Reflection Group
Turkey's EU Minister Çelik receives EU Reflection Group

Turkey would reject any offer of partnership with the European Union that falls short of membership, Ankara's minister for EU affairs said, warning that the current situation gave Turkey no reason to maintain its migrant deal with the bloc.

"A privileged partnership or similar approaches, we don't take any of these seriously. Turkey cannot be offered such a thing," Ömer Çelik told Reuters in an interview.

"Whatever it would be called, a privileged partnership or cooperation against terrorism, such an offer will not even be considered by Turkey," he added.

Çelik said the European Union was not honouring all parts of a deal to stem the flow of migrants westwards from Turkey in return for 3 billion euros in financial aid to Turkey and other support.

The financial aid was "not working well", no new chapters had been opened in Turkey's EU accession efforts and there had been no development on expanding a Turkish-EU customs deal.

"Technically there's no reason for Turkey to maintain this deal," Çelik said.

#ömer çelik
#Turkey
#EU
#europe
6 yıl önce