Turkey makes last minute demands over migrants

Turkey has made a host of last-minute funding and political demands that threaten to derail a controversial EU-Turkey deal to dramatically reduce migrant flows to Europe. 

Ahead of crunch summit between EU leaders and the Turkish prime minister on Monday, Ankara has called for a an increase to the € 3bn in aid previously promised by Brussels, faster access to Schengen visas for Turkish citizens and accelerated progress in its EU membership bid.

Although talks remain fluid, the wishlist represents the new price demanded by Ankara to help the EU handle the migrant crisis by facilitating the systematic return of non-Syrian migrants from Greek islands to Turkey.

A deal of some kind is still expected at the end of the summit. But four diplomats involved in the talks said that Turkey’s revised demands would be extremely challenging and could blow apart a fragile EU consensus on the sweeteners offered to Ankara.

A deal with Turkey is crucial for reducing the flow of people entering Europe, according to EU officials. This has overridden concerns about the country’s asylum system and human rights record. 

Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the proposed deal demonstrated “how indispensable the EU is for Turkey and Turkey for the EU”. Speaking before the meeting, Davutoğlu added: “The whole future of Europe is on the table.”

Last week Davutoglu privately signalled to EU negotiators that Turkey would be willing to accept the systematic return of non-Syrian migrants to Turkey. In the final stages of the negotiation, however, Turkey made clear it would expect its EU agreement on migration to be improved. 

This includes moving forward a recommendation to grant visa privileges to Turkish citizens, which was expected in the autumn. Turkey has yet to meet some of the most difficult conditions for visa access, including the recognition of Cyprus.

Ankara also wants an increase in the EU’s proposed € 3bn in funding, so that it covers municipal infrastructure costs as well as health, education and material support for Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Source : MENA