Erdogan: Europa is een totale leugen!

EU is a ‘TOTAL LIE’: Erdogan launches scathing assault on Brussels as relations sour
RECEP Tayyip Erdogan has launched a scathing attack on the European Union (EU), saying the bloc’s representatives are “not honest people” and are living “a total lie”.



The 63-year-old Turkish president unleashed his latest verbal assault on Brussels as relations between the European Union and Turkey continue to deteriorate.

Mr Erdogan said: "Brussels makes promises, and then does not fulfil them, because EU representatives are not honest people.

“Their whole life is a total lie. We have never seen sincerity as part of attitude of the EU.”

He added that a “strong Turkey triggers fears among Ankara’s enemies.

"The main thing is that Turkey will become an example and hope for other countries.”

Mr Erdogan’s latest outburst comes after he told the Turkish parliament at the start of the month: “We don’t need EU membership anymore.”

He added: ”The EU failed us in a fight against terrorism.

"Today, Europe has become a place where terrorists can move around freely and carry out all kinds of activity against Turkey's legitimate administration.

Referring to supporters of Fetullah Gulen and to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), he said: "We are extremely uncomfortable with those who openly hinder Turkey's EU membership but adopt a tolerant attitude towards terrorist organisations.”

He said EU states had failed to respond to requests to extradite individuals accused of involvement in the failed coup.

But he also suggested the EU still needed Turkey.

He said: ”If the EU is going to leap forward, there is only one way to do so. And it is to grant Turkey membership and start an action of cultural and economic growth.”

Turkey has been in talks with the EU for 12 years, debating whether the country can become a member of the bloc.

Both parties agreed a deal in 2015 that would see Ankara take back failed asylum seekers in exchange for millions in cash.

The deal was seen as a step closer to Turkey's EU membership, however relations soured after Brussels condemned the country's human rights laws following Ankara's reaction to a failed coup.

Last November, in a symbolic vote in response to the crackdown following the coup, the EU Parliament urged governments to freeze EU membership talks with Turkey.

But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that it would be a mistake for the EU to abandon accession talks completely - in light of "a significant portion of Turkey's civil society that is open to Europe”.

Alongside attacking the EU, Mr Erdogan has also recently been attacking the United States, saying it supported the Kurdish fighters in Syria and accused the country of “sheltering a terrorist”.

Both sides have frozen many visa services in each other's countries and Erdogan said he would no longer recognise the authority of US Ambassador John Bass, whom he blames for the breakdown in relations.

Mr Erdogan said: "The decision of the US embassy and the statements that followed are neither fair nor truthful.”

http://www.express.co.uk/(...)ean-Union-membership