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Political analyst: EU forced to liberalize visa regime with Turkey

"The European Union will be forced to cancel the visa regime with Ankara unless Turkey is shaken by more serious political developments by then," an expert believes

© EPA/ULI DECK

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MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/. The European Union has been forced to liberalize the visa regime with Turkey in a bid not to break down the migration deal, a Russian political analyst said on Tuesday.

The European Union "has driven itself to a position when it is forced to play by the rules of the Turkish leadership," Anna Glazova, director of the Asia and the Middle East Center of the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies (RISS), told TASS.

"It is no coincidence that after Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced his plans to withdraw as the leader of the ruling party, the president said that Turkey is not going to implement all the criteria required by the European Union to cancel the visa regime," she said.

"As a matter of fact, it is arm-twisting for Europe," she noted. "The European Union will have to meet Ankara halfway in a bid to prevent the breakdown of the deal on migrant exchange and refugee return to Turkey," Glazova said.

"The European Union will be forced to cancel the visa regime with Ankara unless Turkey is shaken by more serious political developments by then," the expert added.

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