A key element of the plan is a 3-billion-euro ($3.2-billion) aid package over two years for Turkey to raise the living standards of the more than two million Syrian refugees now living in the country. Despite increasingly unsafe winter weather, 26 more boats arrived at the beaches of Lesbos as European leaders met Sunday, according the United Nations’ refugee agency.
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Turkey will also accept deported Afghan, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and other Asian “economic migrants” who have had their asylum applications turned down in European Union countries.
Mr. Davutoglu, who will meet NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday, called on European leaders to back Turkey in its stand-off with Russian Federation, which has imposed sanctions on Turkey over the plane incident.
The surprise mini-summit suggested that Merkel has given up on trying to persuade her opponents, mostly in eastern Europe, to join a mandatory refugee-sharing scheme across the European Union, although she is also expected to use the pro-quotas coalition to pressure the naysayers into joining later.
The EU has still to work out how to provide financial support for Turkey.
In exchange, Turkey, which has more than two million Syrian refugees, would increase patrols in the Aegean and at land borders, as well as cracking down on people-trafficking gangs. The case for cooperation with Turkey comes against a backdrop of growing security concerns over the migrant crisis, especially after the November 13 attacks in Paris, claimed by the Islamic State group (IS), which left 130 people dead.
Tusk said the future of Europe’s 26-nation passport-free Schengen travel area, a cornerstone of European unity, was in jeopardy.
“We will also step up our assistance to Syrian refugees in Turkey through a new refugee facility of 3bn euros [$3.2bn]”.
The EU has also pledged visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in the Schengen zone by October 2016 and to relaunch talks on Turkey’s EU membership process.
“Our agreement sets out a clear plan for the timely re-establishment of order at our shared frontier”, European Council President Donald Tusk told a news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
İKV welcomed the opening of Chapter 17 in the negotiations process but said this had been on the agenda for around one year, stressing that it was not a new step.
“We expect the Turkish government to fight human smuggling and trafficking networks effectively on its territory, including through its coast guard”, said Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament.
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Summit chairman Donald Tusk stressed that the meeting was primarily about migration rather than improving Turkish ties, which have been strained in recent years as Erdogan has used a powerful electoral mandate to consolidate his power. But Cyprus, engaged in delicate negotiations to re-unite the island by securing a peace deal with Turkish-backed Northern Cyprus, has vetoed discussion on several chapters since a falling-out with Ankara over shipping treaties, and wants to hold Turkey to conditions before seeing accession talks progress further. Turkey, with a fast-growing population of 78 million, would be the biggest state in the Union, yet much poorer than average.
