Brussels, 09/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Although the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, considered as a moderate partner in the negotiations that led to the EU/Turkey agreement on 18 March, announced his resignation in the evening of 4 May, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, continued to step up the pressure on Saturday 7 May. He stated that his country would not give in to European demands regarding antiterrorism laws in order to obtain the visa free system proposed on 4 May by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11545).
On the same day, the Turkish president rejected the Commission recommendations on the modification of anti-terrorist laws, which are included in the 72 criteria Turkey is required to meet in order for its citizens to be able to benefit from visa free travel in the Schengen area according to the envisaged timetable beginning at the end of June. The President accused the EU of hypocrisy on this subject because he claimed the Europeans were putting democracy to one side with their own antiterrorism laws.
Mr Erdogan said "Those who are criticising us have been reduced to marginalising democracy and civil liberties when the bombs began exploding on their own soil". He also criticised the supposed intentions of the European institutions, particularly the EP, with regard to Kurdish militants, which the Turkish president claims are terrorist organisations.
On Monday 9 May, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Marc Ayrault, repeated on RTL radio that Turkey would have to meet the 72 criteria (by 4 May it had respected five of them). The Minister pointed out that "As long as Turkey has not fulfilled all these conditions" it would not be able to benefit from the proposed visa liberalisation system.
Mr Ayrault said "72 criteria have been requested in exchange for getting rid of visas for Turkish citizens". He added that "a number of them still need to be met, including the one on the rule of law, which Turkey must respect". The Minister also declared that "Turkey is a partner, which is not easy when it has to confront an incredible problem of taking in Syrian refugees. The agreement negotiated on the migrants is positive and the flow of refugees has decreased. At the same time, there are political problems… We expect answers to the questions that have been raised". (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)