The EU has sent less than a third of the €3 billion pledged to Turkey under the refugee deal agreed in 2015, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Tuesday.
Speaking in Warsaw, where he is on a trade visit, the president said the EU had "only sent €885 million of its promised €3 billion plus."
Under the EU-Turkey deal, which came into effect in March last year and has largely halted the tens of thousands of migrants crossing from Turkey to Europe, Brussels promised to speed up the allocation of €3 billion in aid to Turkey to help migrants.
The agreement also contained provisions for Turkish nationals' access to the Schengen passport-free zone and for the revitalization of Turkey's EU membership bid.
However, there has been little movement on either as relations between Ankara and many EU member states have grown increasingly frosty in the wake of last year's defeated coup attempt.
Referring to official accession negotiations, which started in 2005, Erdoğan said: "I always say this: 'Let us know if you are not going to accept us. You should not take up our time nor we take up your time. Let's finalize this.'
"They cannot make their decision on this and we are saying 'We will not be the one to leave the table.' We are waiting for their decision."
Turkey hosts around 3 million Syrian refugees and Erdoğan said the country had spent "over $30 billion" on helping and sheltering them since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Erdoğan's comments came ahead of Thursday's EU leaders' meeting, when relations with Turkey are due to be discussed.
ERDOĞAN CALLS FOR BOOSTING TURKEY, POLAND TRADE TO $10B
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called for boosting bilateral trade volume with Poland to $10 billion within the next five years as both sides signed five agreements in capital Warsaw on Tuesday.
The agreements were signed following a closed-door meeting between Erdoğan and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda.
The Turkish president began his day-long official visit to the country earlier Tuesday. The visit comes two days ahead of an EU leaders' meeting that is due to focus on migration, defense, digitalization and foreign affairs, including EU relations with Turkey.
The five bilateral agreements signed in Warsaw covered the defense, science, education and culture sectors.
Speaking at a joint news conference following the signing of the agreements, the Turkish president said: "$6 billion trade volume is very weak for our two strong countries.
"We have the capacity to increase the trade volume with Poland to $10 billion in the next five years."
The Polish president agreed with Erdoğan that the trade potential between the two countries could be much greater. "I strongly believe…we can reach $10 billion in the near future," he said.
"We talked about both military cooperation, economic and cultural cooperation," Duda added.
Erdoğan also said both sides had agreed to increase Turkish Airlines' flights to Poland from the current five flights per week.
Duda said the Turkish president's visit to Warsaw was important, both economically and politically.
He said Poland supports Turkey's EU accession journey and he hoped the country would eventually get the bloc's full membership.
- MORE POLISH INVESTMENTS URGED
Later, both leaders attended a Polish-Turkish business forum.
At the forum, Erdoğan reiterated that Turkey and Poland deserved a higher trade volume.
He cited defense, energy, finance, furniture, food and chemical sectors as areas where both sides could prioritize cooperation.
Erdoğan mentioned that Turkey's national income increased to $860 billion from $230 billion in 2002.
"In 2023, we aim to see Turkey's national income reach $2 trillion, exports at $500 billion. We are working on this. And we are going to make our national income per capita $25,000," he said.
Erdoğan also said Ankara will continue with its huge construction projects, including building Istanbul's third airport as part of its 2023 goals.
"We expect the business people of both countries to use their potential and create concrete projects," he said, adding that Turkey would back the business communities in their endeavors.
He said Turkey wants to see more Polish investments and Polish tourists in Turkey.
Tourist arrivals in Turkey from Poland rose annually by over 33 percent to 204,834 in the first eight months of this year, according to Culture and Tourism Ministry data.
The trade volume has more than doubled over the last 10 years, shooting up from $2.49 billion in 2006 to nearly $6 billion in 2016, according to Economy Ministry data.
Bilateral trade is in favor of Poland, with Turkey's exports to Poland standing at $1.9 billion while its imports from the country at more than $2.1 billion in January-September 2017, according to official data. Polish exports to Turkey hit a high of $3.24 billion last year, up from $1.43 billion in 2006, while Turkish exports stood at $2.65 billion, up from $1.06 billion in 2006.
