Turkey eyes EU quid pro quo over migrants
Print Edition
TURKEY offered the European Union greater help yesterday to stem a flood of migrants into Europe but demanded more money, faster accession talks and quicker visa-free travel for its citizens in exchange, diplomats said.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara was willing to take back all non-Syrian migrants denied asylum in Europe as well as all those intercepted in its territorial waters, and to crack down harder on people smugglers, they said.
An emergency EU-Turkey summit, originally planned to last half a day, was extended to give Davutoglu a chance to present “new ideas” going beyond Ankara’s commitments so far.
The 28 EU leaders would deliberate on his proposals in the afternoon and were meet him again to discuss them over dinner, an EU official said.
“They (Turkey) are offering more and demanding more,” he said after the first working session. A spokesman for Davutoglu confirmed that there were new proposals but declined to discuss the substance.
Diplomats said that at a preparatory meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Sunday night, Davutoglu demanded more than the 3 billion euros (US$3.29 billion) earmarked so far to support Syrian refugees in Turkey. One source said Ankara was seeking 20 billion euros.
“I am sure these challenges will be solved through our cooperation and Turkey is ready to work with the EU,” Davutoglu said on arrival for the summit.
“Turkey is ready to be a member of the EU as well. Today I hope this summit will not just focus on irregular migration but also the Turkish accession process to the EU.”
Among his demands, diplomats said, was to grant Turks visa-free travel in the EU from June instead of waiting for a planned October review of preparatory measures. One EU diplomat said Berlin and some allies were open to bringing forward the date if Ankara met all the requirements, including changing its visa policy for Islamic states and introducing biometric passports.
EU leaders voiced concern and unease that the offer of increased cooperation coincided with a crackdown on media freedom that runs counter to cherished European values.
With tens of thousands of migrants stranded in Greece by closing borders, the summit may formally declare closed the Balkan route from Greece to Germany, although diplomats said Greek and German officials were fighting to soften the wording.
Leaders will vow help to Athens cope with the backlog and seek assurances that Turkey, with NATO naval back-up in the Aegean, will stop people smugglers putting migrants to sea.
Some 33,000 migrants are bottled up in Greece and about 2,000 more have been arriving daily.
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