EU affairs minister criticizes 'Turkey-bashing'

By Senhan Bolelli

LISBON, Portugal (AA) - Turkey’s EU affairs minister on Tuesday hailed the removal of Daesh from Turkey and NATO’s border with Syria.

“NATO borders have been completely cleared of Daesh elements for the first time,” Omer Celik said during a two-day visit to Portuguese capital Lisbon. “Our army entered Syrian territory to fight Daesh.

“Daesh, which couldn’t be pushed back by an international coalition of 55 countries, has now been eradicated from our borders.”

Celik used a news conference with Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva to call for visa-free travel within the EU for Turkish nationals, as promised under the EU-Turkey refugee deal, to be sped up.

“The visa-free deal is the key issue for us,” he said. “We want this visa-free deal to be materialized at once.”

Earlier, in an article for the Bloomberg business news agency, Celik criticized Europe’s “Turkey-bashing”.

“Faced with greater challenges than ever, Europe’s populists have turned to Turkey-bashing instead of addressing real issues affecting the lives of their citizens,” he said. “Nonetheless, Turkey has maintained a constructive and professional attitude, repeatedly working with Europe to overcome mutual challenges.”

Referring to the July 15 coup attempt, he added: “In recent weeks, the Turkish people have not received the kind of support from European leaders that they hoped for.

“Each condemnation of the coup coming from the West has been accompanied by a long list of ifs, ands and buts. Any neutral observer could easily be convinced that the coup plotters, as opposed to their victims, were the aggrieved party.”