Turkey will not wait at Europe’s door forever and is ready to walk away from EU accession talks if rising Islamophobia and hostility from some member states persist, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told Reuters in an interview, Hurriyet reports.
Erdoğan said a decision by a leading European human rights body to put Turkey back on a watch list was "entirely political" and that Ankara did not recognize the move.
"If they’re not acting sincerely we have to find a way out. Why should we wait any longer? We’re talking about 54 years," he said, adding that if necessary, he said, Turkey could hold a vote similar to Britain’s on EU membership.