Turkey has threatened to cancel a migrant deal with the EU, created to curb the flow of refugees arriving into Europe.

Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made the threat during an escalating diplomatic crisis with Europe over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's attempts to gather support from Turkish nationals living in Europe ahead of a referendum.

"We can stop it unilaterally. We have not yet informed our (EU) counterparts, all of this is in our hands," Mr Cavusoglu said.

"We can say 'we will not implement the migrant deal'. We don't have to get permission from anyone".

Image: President Erdogan at the European Parliament in Brussels last year

Turkey agreed in 2013 to take back migrants who travelled illegally to the EU in return for the promise of visa-free travel.


During the TV interview with Turkish news channel Kanal 24, Mr Cavusoglu said the EU had been "wasting our time on the visa liberalisation issue", referring to the fact that the promise of visa-free travel has never been fulfilled.

Last year, Ankara also agreed to take back migrants who travelled from Turkey to the Greek islands, in an effort to deter them from making the risky crossing.

In return for the re-admission Turkey was to receive financial aid and accelerated EU membership talks.

The scheme was criticised by the UN refugee agency at the time, who said reception centres in Greece had become "detention facilities".

Mr Cavusoglu said that Turkey is now re-evaluating the refugee deal with the bloc.

Image: Dutch PM Mark Rutte has seen off the challenge from the far-right

The 16 April referendum in Turkey could give Mr Erdogan sweeping new powers and is a response to last year's attempted coup.

A war of words ensued between President Erdogan and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, after Turkish ministers were banned from attending a pro-Ankara rally in Rotterdam.

Mr Erdogan retaliated by branding the Netherlands "Nazi remnants", leading to a warning from Brussels for Ankara to show moderation.

The German government has also said it may ban Turkish politicians from campaigning in Germany, a move which Mr Erdogan called "fascist actions".

Continuing the verbal attack on the Netherlands following the Dutch general election, in which Mr Rutte defeated anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders, the Turkish foreign minister said:

"You look at the social democrats and the fascist Wilders, there is no difference, they have the same mentality".