“We have told them, 'we are not threatening you', but there's a reality. We have signed two deals with you [the EU] and both are interlinked” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told news outlets in Antalya on Monday.
 
“This is not a threat, but what is required from an agreement” he insisted, adding that his country would use “administrative” measures to block the refugee deal if visa requirements were not waived for its citizens within the EU.
 
“The number of migrants crossing to Greek islands in October was around 6,800. Now it is around 80 daily” Cavusoglu argued. Turkey’s Foreign Minister insisted that even though his country had stuck to its half of the one-for-one exchange agreement, only 130 Syrians from Turkish camps had been resettled in EU member states.
 
No change in terror law
 
Following last year's refugee crisis, European leaders signed a deal worth billions of euros with Ankara to take back migrants/refugees crossing over into Europe from the Aegean Sea. In return, the European Union promised to take Syrian refugees from camps within Turkey, to restart Turkey's EU membership talks and allow its citizens to travel into the region without a visa, subject to Turkey meeting 72 conditions necessary for this.
 
In order to comply with European requirements, Ankara has passed several laws in the last few months but has refused to narrow its anti-terror regulations that have often been used to detain journalists and academics.
 
Cavusoglu said his country is battling “more than one terrorist group”, including the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and it would be “impossible to change terror laws” under such circumstances. In fact, recently, Turkey passed yet another law which strips MPs from their immunity and could be used against the main opposition but mainly the HDP which is pro-Kurdish.