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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Turkey's EU membership hits a wall

Turkey's EU membership hits a wall
By Emanuele Scimia

Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing.

Turkey started talks about joining the European Union back in 2005, but the process has been suspended since June 2010. The stalemate stems from Brussels' refusal to start negotiations on visa-free travel before Ankara signs a pact for the readmission of illegal migrants coming from its territory (those registered in 2011 by FRONTEX - the EU agency for external border security - were over 55,000, mainly from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and the Northern Africa).

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