Turkey Sets Deadline for EU Agreement Implementation

Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Prime Minister of Turkey, announced on Monday that if the European Union does not fulfill its commitment to abolish visa requirements for Turkish citizens by June of this year, Ankara will cancel the agreement on the return of migrants and other agreements with the EU. According to Reuters, the Prime Minister made this statement during a press conference on the 30th of Farvardin before leaving Ankara. He stated, "If the European Union does not take the necessary actions, it cannot naturally expect Turkey to fulfill the contract." Davutoğlu added that Turkey expects the visa for travel to Europe for Turkish citizens to be lifted in June, and if this does not happen, Turkey will no longer consider itself obligated to fulfill its commitments. According to AFP, despite the EU-Turkey agreement to abolish visas for Turkish citizens traveling to Schengen countries, several European countries are not particularly favorable towards lifting the visa requirement. Previously, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Turkey's Foreign Minister, had stated in a speech in the Turkish Parliament that the agreement between Turkey and the EU is very clear. He said that Turkey wants to end the humanitarian tragedy and that Europe has committed to lifting the visa for Turkish citizens, and if the EU does not fulfill its commitment, the entire signed agreement will be considered invalid by Turkey. On Monday, the Prime Minister, before traveling to Strasbourg, France, for a meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, emphasized that the international community should appreciate Turkey for what he described as opening Turkey's borders with Syria for humanitarian purposes. Last month, Turkey and the EU signed an agreement aimed at controlling the influx of migrants into Europe and returning some of them to Turkey in exchange for financial and political rewards for Turkey. Human rights organizations have criticized what they call the EU and Ankara's agreement for the forced, widespread, and immediate return of refugees to Turkey.