Azernews.Az

By Gunay Hasanova

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara insists on the introduction of visa-free regime with the EU by mid-October, RIA Novosti reported.

"This could be in the beginning or the middle of October, but we expect the exact date to be named soon," said Cavusoglu in his interview with a German newspaper.

Cavusoglu warned the EU that Turkey will have to withdraw from the implementation of the migrants return program that unless the visa facilitation occurs.

The Heads of State and the EU Member States' governments agreed with Turkey upon a joint plan to combat the migration crisis in mid-March. The program is focusing on the return of illegal immigrants arriving from Greece to the territory of Turkey and accepting legal Syrian refugees in Turkey by the EU according to the principle of "one for one".

Turkey has along waited for its EU membership, while each application to accede to the European Union was frustrating for the government. Turkey, holding a status of an associate member at the Economic Community -- the predecessor of the EU since 1963 -- made an official application for entry on April 14, 1987.

The membership bid has become a major controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union.