Erdogan Threatens to Scrap EU Refugee Deal if Visa Liberalization Fails

Turkey will not comply with the migrant action plan agreed on with Brussels if the bloc resists liberalizing its visa regime with the country, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned that Ankara would scrap the EU-Turkey migrant deal if Turkish nationals did not get visa-free access to the European Union’s borderless Schengen area by mid-October.

"If the European Union is not liberalizing the visa regime for citizens of Turkey, Ankara will not comply with the agreement on migrants," Erdogan told the Italian RaiNews24 broadcaster in an interview.

The Turkish president also slammed EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini for not visiting Turkey after a failed attempt at a military coup in the country on July 15.

According to the EU-Turkey deal agreed on March 18, Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who come ashore in Greece if EU countries have Syrian refugees resettled from Turkish camps on a one-for-one basis. The bloc also promised to accelerate the Turkish EU accession and introduce visa-free regime.