Turkey's foreign minister is demanding that the European Union say when its citizens will be granted visa-free entry and adds that, if the rules aren't loosened, Ankara will back off a deal to stem the flow of migrants into Europe.

The visa offer was linked to the Turkey-EU migrant deal in March. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan already has said the deal could collapse if the EU reneges on the visa promise.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted Sunday as telling the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "if there is no visa liberalization, we will be forced to distance ourselves from the (migrant) readmission agreement."

Cavusoglu says "it can be the beginning or the middle of October, but we expect a firm date" for visa-free entry.