No EU migrant deal if visas not lifted: Turkish PM

There will be no migrant deal with the European Union if visas are not lifted for Turkish citizens as agreed in a Turkey-EU deal in mid-March, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu said. 

"If they do not implement visa-liberalization [for Turkish citizens], then we will not implement the readmission agreement. These [things] are linked," Davuto?lu said in Doha on April 28.

"This is an exam for all. We believe that we have passed our own exam very well. Hereafter, the European Parliament will take the necessary steps about visa liberalization. In my meeting with [European Parliament President] Martin Schulz, I said very clearly that everyone should be very careful about their remarks during this process," he said. 

The European Commission is expected to present its advisory report on May 4, where it will determine whether or not the EU should grant visa-free travel to Turkish citizens. This report will later be evaluated by the European Council. The measure has to be approved by a qualified majority of EU member states at the council and a majority in the European Parliament to take effect.

Turkish EU Minister and Chief EU Negotiator Volkan Bozk?r said April 28 that Turkey was going to fulfill all 72 criteria required to ensure the European Union grants its citizens visa-free travel by the deadline. 

The Turkey-EU deal, sealed on March 18, aims at curbing the migrant influx into the EU after over 1 million refugees passed into the bloc in 2015. Turkey began taking back all migrants who reached Greece as of March 20, in exchange for the EU taking the same of Syrian refugees from Turkey. The EU has also pledged visa-free travel to Turkish citizen, if its meets all the necessary criteria, a total of 6 million euros by the end...