Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Erdogan: EU needs Turkey more than Turkey needs EU
The European Union needs Turkey more than Ankara needs the bloc, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says, denouncing a new European Parliament report that was sharply critical of the rule of law in his country.
“The European Union needs Turkey more than Turkey needs the European Union,” Erdogan says to cheers in a televised speech to municipal leaders in Ankara, denouncing as “provocative” last week’s European Parliament report which accused Ankara of backsliding on democracy.
— AFP