Turkey's Erdogan says no migrant deal if EU doesn't fulfill pledges

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the Brookings Institute in Washington March 31, 2016.

Reuters/Joshua Roberts


ISTANBUL Turkey will not go through with an agreement to take back Syrian migrants from Europe if the European Union does not fulfill its pledges, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.


Under the deal, Ankara will take back all migrants and refugees who cross the Aegean Sea to enter Greece illegally. In return, Europe will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with money, visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.


(Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Janet Lawrence)




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I doubt this pressure thing will have any success. EU won't accept Turkey that easy.

 

Wow, all the migration stuff going on in Europe is a real cluster-f. It's interesting, in the US we're somewaht 'protected' from it all by two big old oceans, but the world's a lot smaller than it ever was in history. These type of things can't just be ignored. I'm glad that there's a lot of news coverage about it all but, I think there could be a lot more over here in the States. In the end it's about human lives and that should be the most important thing! Anyway, great article, thanks for sharing!

 

Depends what happens with the UK and whether or not it will be the first country to leave the EU. If the UK does leave then I believe some other countries may follow suit in order to avoid the influx of refugees in to their country. The refugees are really beginning to break apart europe from the inside with all the conflicts and islamophobia. Whether or not the EU is better for the UK or any other EU member for that matter, I don't know.

 

These kinds of agreements seems to go nowhere, and a very unfortunate solution. Looks like those nations forgot that syrian refugees are human beings and not trade tokens. Another conflict poorly managed as a consequence of letting government to decide people's fate.

 

Stephen Hawking has pleaded to the UK to not leave the EU already. He stated that it would destroy a lot of joint research projects that are currently active. That's one major reason for them not to leave the EU.

Also I don't blame Turkey for making demands, as they really aren't equipped for taking in refugees. Then again I still don't think it's right for them to make demands, but I understand where they are coming from.