Turkey ‘no longer expects anything’ from European Union: President Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that his country “no longer expects anything from the European Union, which has kept us waiting at its door for 40 years”.

“We have kept all the promises we have made to the EU but they have kept almost none of theirs,” he said before an inaugural session of parliament.

The president added that he would not “tolerate any new demands or conditions on the accession process” for his country to join the bloc.

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Erdogan’s anger also stems from a judgement on Thursday by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that condemned Turkey for convicting a teacher in the wake of the 2016 attempted coup on the grounds he had downloaded an encrypted messaging app linked with the alleged plotters.

The ruling that the rights of Yuksel Yalcinkaya had been violated could create a significant precedent, with thousands of similar cases pending before the Strasbourg-based court.

Turkey blames a group led by the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen for being behind the failed attempt to oust Erdogan, alleging that a messaging app called ByLock was used to coordinate the plot.

Erdogan said Sunday that the “decision of the ECHR was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“(Turkey) will not turn back in its fight against this band of traitors,” he said.