EU chief warns Turkey is distancing itself from Europe

The president of the European Union says that Turkey is distancing itself from the EU's values and giving the impression that it no longer wants to join the bloc.

"I note with bitterness, I who am a friend of Turkey, that Turkey is distancing itself from Europe every day," Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday.

He called on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to immediately say "whether Turkey really wants to be – yes or no – a member of the European Union."

Juncker said that if the EU does not grant Turkish people visa travel soon it will only be because the government in Ankara has not respected the agreed conditions.

Turkey began its EU membership talks in October 2005.

Last month, Ankara threatened to back out of a deal to send Syrian refugees back across the Aegean if the European Union failed to implement visa-free travel for Turks by the end of the year.

"Forcing this despite the situation is putting a roadblock in front of the visa liberalisation, and therefore we will assume they aren't keeping the promises they made," Turkish EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik told Reuters in an interview in Ankara.

"In that case we won't carry out the readmission deal, and we will cancel it if necessary," he said.

Celik was referring to a controversial deal signed in March in which Turkey agreed to take back Syrians landing on Greek islands in exchange for political and financial incentives.

The deal included billions of euros in aid, visa-free travel for Turks in Europe, and accelerated talks on Turkey's stalled bid for EU membership.

But ties have been strained following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's massive crackdown on suspects involved in a failed coup in July.

On Friday, the European Union expressed concern over Turkey's arrest of leaders and MPs from the country's main pro-Kurdish party.

The bloc's foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini, other top EU officials and many of the European Union's 28 member states have all repeatedly urged Erdogan not to breach human rights in the crackdown.

They have warned also that any re-introduction of the death penalty would immediately halt Turkey's already difficult accession talks as it pursues membership of the bloc.

However, Celik added that no final demand for a schedule had yet been given by Turkey, but that if visa liberalisation was not implemented by the end of the year it would have "reached its natural death".

"There won't be anything left to talk about," he said.

More than a million people have entered the EU last year by taking boats from Turkey to Greece, but the numbers taking that route have tumbled since the deal with Ankara came into effect. Celik said Turkey had been keeping its promises, with illegal arrivals on the Greek islands dropping to 20-30 people a day from a peak of 7,000 in 2015.