Turkey's Erdogan takes tough EU line after PM quits

 

Turkey's president has told the EU it will not change its anti-terror laws in return for visa-free travel.

"We'll go our way, you go yours," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
The EU has asked Turkey to revise its laws as a condition for allowing Turkish citizens visa-free travel for short stays.

The plan is part of a deal involving the return of migrants, mainly Syrians, from Greece to Turkey in order to ease Europe's migration crisis.
Mr Erdogan was speaking a day after PM Ahmet Davutoglu, who had largely negotiated the EU deal, said he was stepping down.

Reports said Mr Davutoglu also opposed Mr Erdogan's plan to give more power to the presidency.
Mr Erdogan said the proposed constitutional changes were a national need.

 

But Mr Erdogan rejected this, insisting Turkey remained under a severe threat of terrorism.
He believes the laws are need to tackle Kurdish militants at home and jihadist groups including so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
"We will go our way, you go yours," he said in a speech broadcast live on television.
Rights groups say the laws are used to crack down on opponents and detain critics, journalists and dissident academics.