Europe should refrain from giving lessons to Turkey on migration issue: Juncker
PARIS – Anadolu Agency
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President of the
European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker on Nov. 25 said Europe should refrain
from giving lesson to Turkey on the issue migration, a day after Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defiantly criticized a major suggestion came from
the European side to suspend the country’s accession talks.
Speaking to “Global
Conversation” program of the Euronews channel, Juncker recalled that Turkey
opened its doors for more than three million refugees and has done, along with
Jordan and Lebanon, more than what the EU did, thus called on the members of
the community to be reasonable with their criticisms.
“Turkey is a
crucial ally, and this is not only because of the refugee crisis. Of course
there is an obvious fact that Turkey has hosted more than three million
refugees which Europe could not do. Therefore I demand Europe to refrain from
giving lessons to Turkey on this matter. Turkey has done more than Europe,
along with border countries of Jordan and Lebanon. Thus when talking about this
issue, one should be modest,” said Juncker.
Upon a question
on Turkey’s accession talks with the EU, Juncker said “the real question that
should be posed is: does Turkey want to abide by all criteria needed to become
an EU member? I do not think Turkey asks this question to itself. As this
question is not asked, there is no answer to it either,” said Juncker.
On Nov. 25
Erdoğan harshly criticized the voting at the European parliament that suggested
the community to halt talks with Turkey concerning its accession, a decades-long
aspiration of the country. The European Parliament argued that Turkey’s state
of emergency, introduced after the July 15 coup attempt in the country, brought
“disproportionate repressive measures.”
“Some 30-40
votes for ‘no’ and 400-500 votes for ‘yes.’ What would happen if all of you voted
‘yes?’ You never treated humanity honestly and you did not look after people
fairly. You did not pick up babies when they washed ashore on the
Mediterranean. We are the ones who are feeding around 3.5 million refugees in
this country,” Erdoğan said.
“You did not keep your promises. When 50,000 refugees turned up at the Kapıkule [border gate] you cried out and began to say ‘What will we do when Turkey opens the border gates?’ Look, if you go further, those border gates will be opened. You should know that,” he added.