David Cameron ‘lying’ about Turkey joining EU as talks will take place just days after referendum
Turkey has been trying to be a part of the EU since 2005 and Britain is paying £675million to help them join
DAVID Cameron was today accused of “lying to the British people” about Turkey joining the EU – as it emerged new membership talks will begin next week.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith unleashed a furious tirade after Ankara also exposed the PM as their “chief supporter” and issued a desperate plea for a Remain vote.
Mr Cameron has frantically tried to claim there is no prospect of Turkish membership “for decades” in a bid to defuse warnings from Brexiteers that its 75 million population will pile new immigration pressures on the UK.
That is despite the fact he once vowed to “pave the road from Ankara to Brussels” and that Britain is paying £675 million to help prepare the country to join – as revealed by The Sun.
Today it emerged that membership talks about Turkey’s finance and budget affairs will begin on June 30.
Talks about Turkey joining the European Union will take place next week
It is the latest of 35 chapters to be opened and is part of a speeded-up process promised as part of a deal for Turkish help tackling the migrant crisis.
The news came shortly after Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey wants the UK to stay in the EU “under any circumstances”.
And it followed Ankara’s chief presidential adviser Ilnur Cevik saying he had been “flabbergasted” to hear Mr Cameron defensive referendum claims, adding: “Turks thought that the British were the driving force behind our EU membership and that they were supporting us right to the hilt.”
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Mr Duncan Smith declared himself “very angry” at the triple whammy of revelations and accused Mr Cameron and the EU of deliberately hiding the talks during the referendum campaign.
He said: “There is a lie going on. The Prime Minister, the Government and the EU are now lying to the British people.”
Mr Duncan Smith also accused Mr Cameron of “colluding” with the EU over Turkey’s membership, adding: “It’s time to stop lying to the British people and accept it is Government policy, it is EU policy and it is going to happen.”
But Mr Cameron repeated his insistence that talks are progressing so slowly that Turkey will not join until “the year 3000” as he denied he was “keen” to have Ankara in the EU.
The PM said: “You have to open and close 35 chapters of negotiation. They’ve opened and closed one. This is the reddest of red herrings.”