“Waiting for 40 years”
Erdogan doesn't want to be told anything more by the EU
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Turkey has been trying to become a member of the EU through official channels since 1999. The process has been dragging on since then, and President Erdogan has apparently reached the end of his patience. The country will no longer accept any further demands for accession from Brussels, he tells MPs.
According to its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey will no longer accept any requirements or conditions for accession from the EU. “We have kept all the promises we made to the EU, but they have kept almost none of theirs,” Erdogan told Turkish MPs in Ankara at the start of parliament's new session. Turkey applied to join the European Union in 1999. The accession negotiations that began in 2005 have been on hold since the end of 2016.
The Turkish head of state said his country would “not accept any new demands or conditions in the accession process.” “Turkey expects nothing more from the European Union, which has kept us waiting at its gates for 40 years.” If the EU does not correct “injustices such as the visa requirement” for Turkish citizens, then it will no longer have the right to make political, economic or military demands on Turkey. “If the EU intends to end the accession process, which only exists on paper, then that is its decision,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan also spoke to MPs about the attack that two assassins carried out near the parliament in Ankara that morning. “Vogues” threaten the peace and security of citizens, he said. But the “terrorists” would “never achieve their goals.” According to the Turkish Interior Ministry, one assassin blew himself up in the attack and the second was killed. The attack targeted the police headquarters and the Interior Ministry, which are located in a building complex in Ankara. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
