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Turkey Ponders Re-evaluating, Suspending All Migrant Deals with EU


FILE - Turkish rescue workers and medics work next to the bodies of migrants laid out near an ambulance in Kusadasi, Turkey, March 24, 2017.
FILE - Turkish rescue workers and medics work next to the bodies of migrants laid out near an ambulance in Kusadasi, Turkey, March 24, 2017.

Turkey says it may re-evaluate or suspend all migrant agreements with the European Union if it does not receive a positive response from the bloc on visa-free travel for Turks.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during an interview with broadcaster A Haber Friday the migrant deal and visa liberalization were a package, and therefore it was Turkey's right to re-evaluate or suspend those if one element was not fulfilled.

Cavusoglu also said Turkey had no issues with Russia at present and would strengthen cooperation on a cease-fire and political solution in Syria, after a chemical attack blamed on Syrian government forces killed about 100 civilians in rebel-held Idlib province.

The attack prompted the United States to launch dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles from U.S. Navy destroyers in the Mediterranean on a Syrian air base.

The strike, the first direct U.S. action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and President Donald Trump's biggest military decision since taking office, marked a dramatic escalation in U.S. involvement in Syria's six-year war.

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