EU's condemnation of Trump meaningless as Turkey's visa liberalization talks drag on, says EU Minister Çelik

Turkey's Minister of European Union Affairs and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik harshly criticized EU countries for their condemnation of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive orders that prevent Muslims from entering the U.S., as the EU's position on visa liberalization for Turkey bears similar separatist thoughts. Speaking to news channel A Haber on Thursday during his visit to France to meet with French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, President of the Senate Gérard Larcher and his counterpart Harlem Desir in Paris, EU Minister Çelik pointed out that the EU's approach is no different to Trump's.

"The EU made a decision in an effort to exclude Turkey from the EU by preventing visa liberalization over religious preferences, which are viewed as inappropriate with the EU's essential principles," Çelik stated. Minister Çelik highlighted that EU countries do not build a bridge for immigrants and instead close the gates of borders while referring to Trump's xenophobic political decision. He indicated that when considering the resettlement of refugees in Europe, France hosted 2,000 people only, while some countries are not allowing refugees to cross into Europe.

Meanwhile, Minister Çelik touched on the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ) during his speech: "Evidence is not necessary for FETÖ where everything is clear and Britain understood Turkey's position to combat FETÖ, whereas other European countries did not demonstrate any supportive reaction toward the officially elected Turkish government," he added. On that note, Çelik added that EU countries did not determine their position against FETÖ while emphasizing the mistaken perception of EU countries on the so-called hierarchy between terrorist groups including the PKK, Daesh and FETÖ, and the summit meeting planned to be held between Turkey and the EU is expected to yield positive developments.

Furthermore, Minister Çelik said that by fighting Daesh and with Operation Euphrates Shield, Turkey provided security to Europe and that by clearing the borders of Daesh in a matter of days, Turkey achieved remarkable success. "By securing its borders, Turkey also secured NATO's borders as well as the EU's security from Daesh," he added.

Additionally, Minister Çelik also drew attention to possible political changes which are expected across the globe in 2017. Regarding the altering political polarization, Çelik said that the likelihood of a war between the U.S. and China and the abolishment of the nuclear energy agreement with Iran were discussed for the first time. Çelik also touched on the important elections in Europe which will likely shape the future of Europe. In reference to Trump's speech saying he supports Bretix, the EU minister believes it also has political influence, thus, 2017 is expected to be an important year for politics.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said yesterday the European Union should clarify its position regarding Turkey's membership in the bloc. Speaking in Madrid at a conference hosted by the Real Elcano think tank, Çavuşoğlu said: "We are very clear… we want to be full members."

"If the EU doesn't want to respect the agreement, then they have to make a decision and be honest with us," he added. Çavuşoğlu noted that despite beginning negotiations in 2005, the same year as Croatia -- which now has full EU membership -- few additional negotiating chapters had been opened.

"I know that it's difficult with internal politics and populism on the rise," he told the audience of diplomats, which included Spain's new foreign affairs minister, Alfonso Dastis.

"We are faced with leaders who prefer isolation and discrimination and want to build walls to exclude different cultures and religion," Çavuşoğlu added.

The EU and Turkey had reached an agreement back in March 2016 to reduce the worst migration crisis and to send the refugees who arrived in Greece back to Turkey in exchange for legally processed refugees. In return, Turkey was supposed to receive benefits including visa-free travel for its citizens to the EU's Schengen zone, which in the accord was promised at the latest by June 2016, in addition to receiving a total of 6 billion euros up to the end of 2018 to spend on meeting the needs of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Turkey must meet 72 criteria before being granted visa-free travel and although Turkey fulfilled most of the criteria, the EU had called for changes to Ankara's legislation on terrorism, which was criticized and rejected by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by stressing that Turkey has been fighting fiercely against all terror types including the PKK and its Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), as well as Daesh.