Speaking to reporters in Ankara before his flight on Sunday, Davutoğlu called the summit “critical” in several respects including that of finding a common solution to the refugee crisis and giving impetus to Turkey’s accession talks to the EU.
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Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the summit with European Union leaders on Sunday was a “new beginning” in Turkey’s accession process to the 28-nation bloc. “It’s important in so many aspects because it’s the first EU-Turkey summit in 11 years”, he said. It also wants to hold Turkey to commitments to take back people who successfully reach Greece but then fail in their claims for political asylum. On the other hand, the refugee crisis preys heavily on Europe.
Ahead of Sunday’s summit, European Council President Donald Tusk said he hoped for an agreement, but also stressed that Turkey’s help alone wouldn’t be enough to solve the problem.
Another salient issue for Turkey is the unending conflict with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ever since a peace process, which began in 2012, lasted until the PKK again resorted to violence in July. The important one is our responsibility and duty to protect our external border.
“From today onwards, we will also, I will personally, work on a high-level dialogue with Turkey comprising all the different and sometimes hard issues we have on the table with them – all of them, none exclusions”. “We can not outsource this obligation to any third country”, Tusk said.
“A joint action plan has been agreed”.
The details of the multi-billion dollar deal still need to be hammered out, and will likely hinge on a number of conditions, including how effectively Turkey can stem the flow of arrivals.
Michel says he isn’t ready to free up Belgian money and encouraged Ankara to give Syrians greater access to Turkey’s labor market.
“I will not write a blank cheque for Turkey”.
Progress at Sunday’s summit, called just days ago, may also be complicated by Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border on Tuesday.
But the three billion euros in aid it gets in return will be “reviewed in the light of the developing situation”, the draft statement said, and it did not provide any timescale for when exactly it would be paid out.
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Relations between Europe and Turkey remain tense over Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic rule, rights abuses and Turkey’s alleged backing for Islamist rebels in Syria.
