COVID-19 Latest
World|politics|July 12, 2017 / 10:57 AM
President Erdogan says EU wastes Turkey's time

AKIPRESS.COM - 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 that the country has 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.

All rights reserved

© AKIpress News Agency - 2001-2024.

Republication of any material is prohibited without a written agreement with AKIpress News Agency.

Any citation must be accompanied by a hyperlink to akipress.com.

Our address:

299/5 Chingiz Aitmatov Prosp., Bishkek, the Kyrgyz Republic

e-mail: english@akipress.org, akipressenglish@gmail.com;

Follow us:

Log in


Forgot your password? - recover

Not registered yet? - sign-up

Sign-up

I have an account - log in

Password recovery

I have an account - log in