Turkey does not need EU, Erdoğan says

Turkey does not need the European Union, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Oct. 13, one day after he used similar wording on relations with the United States amid the ongoing diplomatic crisis over visas.

“If you’re honest, make your statement and we will finish the job. We don’t need you,” Erdoğan said during an address to provincial representatives from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara.

In the speech, the president claimed that the EU has been “keeping Turkey waiting for 54 years.”