Turkey: Give us EU visa freedom in October or abandon migrant deal

Turkey could walk away from its promise to stem the flow of illegal migrants to EU if the European Union fails to grant Turks visa-free travel to the bloc in October, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the German newspaper Bild on Monday coinciding with rising tensions between Ankara and the West that have been exacerbated by the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15.

Asked whether hundreds of thousands of refugees in Turkey would head to Europe if the EU did not grant Turks visa freedom from October, Cavusoglu told Bild: “I don’t want to talk about the worst case scenario – talks with the EU are continuing but it’s clear that we either apply all treaties at the same time or we put them all aside,” Reuters reported.