ONLINE
ANKARA
Turkey will find it “comforting” if the EU says it cannot be accepted as a member, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told the BBC.
Speaking to HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi, he said Turkey was “able to stand on its own two feet”. He also denied the country had jailed 150 journalists, saying only two people with press cards were in prison.
His claim came as Turkey extended the detention of the local director of Amnesty International and nine others.
Idil Eser was detained on 5 July during a digital security and information management workshop, along with seven other rights activists and two foreign trainers.
The 10 are accused of being members of an “armed terrorist organisation” – although Amnesty says it is unclear which one. Their detention has raised alarm internationally, increasing fears that freedom of expression is being suppressed under President Erdogan.
This concern has bedevilled the country’s bid for EU membership, while the president has accused the bloc of wasting Turkey’s time. “We are loyal to our word,” he told the BBC. “If the EU, bluntly says, ‘We will not be able to accept Turkey into the EU’ this will be comforting for us. We will then initiate our plan B, and C. “The European Union is not indispensable for us… We are relaxed.
