Turkey has plenty of options if the EU continues to stonewall its attempts to gain visa-free travel to the bloc, President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan said Thursday, AFP reported.
The EU promised in March to waive visa requirements for Turks traveling to the EU by October in exchange for the country taking back Syrian migrants from Greece. However, the EU now says Ankara has not made sufficient progress on the conditions for liberalization.
“If we do not get the expected outcome regarding the visa issue … if promises are not fulfilled, Turkey will no doubt have a Plan B and it will have a Plan C,” ErdoÄan said during a press conference. “We do not have to say ‘yes’ to every decision made about us. The EU has given us nothing so far.”
ErdoÄan alluded to the fact that Colombia and Peru were granted visa-free travel to the Schengen Zone last year, while Turkey is still waiting.
“Now I say to the world media, what do Latin American countries have to do with the EU?” he said.
The EU’s relationship with Ankara has been strained since ErdoÄan’s crackdown on media, civil servants and opposition groups following the failed July 15 coup. The European Parliament voted in favor of a non-binding resolution last month to suspend EU membership talks with Turkey.