Turkey Resorts To Blackmail, Warns Europe It Will Unleash Refugees If No Visa-Free Travel
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Jun 7, 2016
The month of May was very contentious one for Euro-Turkey relations.
Following months of monetary and diplomatic appeasement of Erdogan, which culminated with a migration deal according to which Turkey would hold Syrian refugees within its borders instead of allowing them to continue onward to Central Europe, things promptly fell apart. As a reminder, less than a month ago, a high-ranking deputy for Turkey’s ruling AKP party, Burhan Kuzu (also a former adviser to President Erdogan) issued an explicit threat to Europe which was at that time discussing whether or not to grant Turkey visa-free travel within the continent. Specifically, he tweeted that “The European Parliament will discuss the report that will open Europe visa-free for Turkish citizens. If the wrong decision is taken, we will unleash the refugees!.” Many read that as tacit blackmail.
Fast forward two weeks later, when we learned that the EU plan to extend visa-free travel privileges to Turkey as of July 1 would be delayed over worries Ankara won’t meet the key conditions on time. As Deutsche Welle reported “Chancellor Angela Merkel is in no mood to budge” in what is the first actual indication of resistance by the German to the increasingly more whimsical demands by the Turkish president.
The Rest…HERE
