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AFP
Brussels
The EU expects Turkey to honour a key migrant return accord which Ankara has threatened to ditch amid a bitter dispute with the bloc, a European Commission spokesman said on Thursday.
"We remain committed to the implementation of the EU-Turkey statement ... this is an engagement of mutual trust and delivery and we expect that both sides will comply with their commitments," Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu threatened on Wednesday to scrap the March 2016 agreement as Ankara blasted Germany and the Netherlands with vicious Nazi jibes for preventing Turkish ministers attending rallies and criticising its rights record.
"We can stop (the deal) unilaterally ... From now on, we can say 'we will not apply it and it will be over'," Cavusoglu said in a 24 TV interview.
Under the accord, Turkey cracked down on massive migrant flows, mainly of Syrians fleeing the country's bloody conflict, in exchange for some 3.0 billion euros in aid, visa free travel and the speeding up of Ankara's long stalled EU accession talks.
But Cavusoglu said there had been no progress on visa-free travel and Ankara accordingly had stopped taking back migrants who had made it to the Greek islands, a key element of the deal.
"Right now we are not implementing the readmission agreement as there is no visa-free travel," he said.
EU relations with Turkey have long been strained over its human rights record but the situation has deteriorated badly since a failed July coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Meanwhile, Turkey's president on Thursday accused the EU's top court of starting a"crusade" against Islam after a ruling allowing European companies to ban employees from wearing religious or political symbols including the Islamic headscarf.
"The European Union's court, The European Court of Justice, my esteemed brothers, have started a crusade struggle against the (Muslim) crescent," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech,
"Where is freedom of religion?" he said, referring to the court ruling this week.
"Shame on your European Union acquis!" Erdogan said, referring to EU law."Shame on your values. Shame on your law and justice!"
"Europe is swiftly rolling back to the days before World War II," he added.
The European Court of Justice said it does not constitute"direct discrimination" if a firm has an internal rule banning the wearing of"any political, philosophical or religious sign".
