Turkey refuses to change terrorism law in stand-off with EU

A deal to grant Turks visa-free travel to most of the European Union was hanging by a thread Thursday, May 12, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly vowed Ankara would not fulfill a key condition set by Brussels.

The EU commission had said in its visa report that Turkey's law on terror allows for an "overly broad" application of the term. "If the wrong decision is taken, we will send the refugees", the Twitter post reads. The EU says Turkey must narrow its definition of "terrorist" and "terrorist act" to secure a visa waiver.

He said if the European Union preferred to take the "terrorist organization" as its interlocutor instead of Turkey, "there's no problem from our perspective". In return, the 28-member bloc pledged to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and the Schengen area.

 Last week, the European Commission - the bloc's executive arm - said Turkey was on course to meet the benchmarks and proposed that visa restrictions be waived from the end of June.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, poses for photographs with military chiefs of Balkan nations following his speech at their conference, in Istanbul Wednesday, May 11, 2016. However, Turkey says it needs the laws to tackle militant groups.

The EU wants Turkey to change its anti-terrorism laws so that they can't be used to stifle dissent and intimidate journalists.

Europe is counting on Turkey to maintain the migration deal that has helped to sharply reduce the flow of refugees and migrants via Turkish shores.

The announcement Mr Davutoglu was stepping down was widely seen as a sign of Mr Erdogan's tightening grip on political power in Turkey.

Turkey is approaching the negotiations in good faith, but revising counterterrorism measures at a time of nearly daily bombing attacks and sweeping operations against Kurdish insurgents is out of the question, Mr. Bozkir said.

Ankara has repeatedly said that without visa liberalisation, there will be no migrant deal. It put the drop down to the effect of the EU's migrant agreement with Turkey and tight border controls at the Greek Macedonia border.

The agency said the number of migrants traveling along the Balkans route from Greece north toward preferred destinations in Austria, Germany and Scandinavia had also dropped as a result.

Separately, Turks will eventually vote on a new constitution and an executive presidency, and he is open to discussing alternative models for such a system, Erdogan said in comments that were broadcast live by Turkish television channels.

Source: Turkey refuses to change terrorism law in stand-off with EU