EU leaders host Turkish President Erdogan for uneasy summit

[webfact]

EU leaders host Turkish President Erdogan for uneasy summit

By Tulay Karadeniz and Alissa de Carbonnel

 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, March 6, 2018. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

 

VARNA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - The European Union holds an uneasy summit with Turkey on Monday, when it is likely to provide Ankara with fresh cash to extend a deal on Syrian refugees but deflect Turkish demands for deeper trade ties and visa-free travel to Europe.

 

With the bloc critical of what it considers to be Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's growing authoritarianism at home and his intervention in Syria's war, Brussels had hesitated to agree to the summit.

 

But host Bulgaria viewed the meeting at the Black Sea port of Varna as a rare chance for dialogue with the country that remains a candidate for EU membership despite years of stalled talks.

 

EU leaders also cited Turkey's importance as a NATO ally on Europe's southern flank and in curbing immigration to Europe from the Middle East and Africa.

 

"I am looking with mixed feelings towards the Varna summit because the differences in views between the EU and Turkey are many," said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who will represent the bloc along with European Council President Donald Tusk.

 

"It will be a frank and open debate, where we will not hide our differences but will seek to improve our cooperation," Juncker told reporters on Friday after a two-day EU summit that discussed Turkey.

 

At that meeting in Brussels, leaders condemned what they said were Turkey's illegal actions in a standoff over eastern Mediterranean gas reserves with bloc members Greece and Cyprus.

 

But in a familiar pattern of public recrimination, Turkey's minister for EU affairs, Omer Celik, said Ankara viewed the summit as "an important opportunity to move our relations forward" and that he expected "the same positive and constructive approach from the EU".

 

Erdogan will seek more money for Syrian refugees, a deeper customs union and progress in talks on letting Turks visit Europe without visas, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said.

 

'LAST CHANCE'

 

EU money is likely to be forthcoming, but little else, EU officials and diplomats said.

 

The bloc is set to grant Turkey a second 3 billion euro ($3.7 billion) tranche to provide for the Syrians it hosts under a March 2016 deal to take in migrants fleeing the country's war.

 

However, EU diplomats said that Erdogan's invitation to Varna will come at the price of more sharp criticism from EU counterparts who say that Turkey has been backsliding on democracy and human rights since a failed coup in July 2016.

 

Some 50,000 people, including journalists, have been arrested while a further 150,000, including teachers, judges and soldiers, have been sacked or suspended from their jobs since the attempted coup.

 

"The meeting in Varna is likely to be one of the last opportunities to maintain dialogue," said Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, whose nation holds the EU's rotating presidency.

 

Despite the need for Turkey's cooperation on security and foreign policy, the EU should maintain a tough line, said Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey, now at the Carnegie Europe think-tank.

 

"It's quite tempting for EU politicians to go for a transactional relationship with Turkey, but Erdogan is not going to stop EU-bashing for his nationalist agenda," he Pierini.

 

(Additional reporting by Robin Emmott; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel @AdeCar; Editing by David Goodman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-26

[BuaBS]

And not a word on the ongoing genocide against the Kurds in Syria ?

Turkey should be out of Nato , never in the EU and boycotted/sanctions at least the same as the sanctions against Russia and NK.

[Baerboxer]

4 hours ago, BuaBS said:

And not a word on the ongoing genocide against the Kurds in Syria ?

Turkey should be out of Nato , never in the EU and boycotted/sanctions at least the same as the sanctions against Russia and NK.

 

Turkey has mostly gotten away with the genocide against the Armenians. So it probably thinks it can against the Kurds too.

[BuaBS]

3 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Turkey has mostly gotten away with the genocide against the Armenians. So it probably thinks it can against the Kurds too.

No-one or country is going to stop them . All have their own agenda , which doesn't include the Kurds.

[Morch]

11 hours ago, BuaBS said:

And not a word on the ongoing genocide against the Kurds in Syria ?

Turkey should be out of Nato , never in the EU and boycotted/sanctions at least the same as the sanctions against Russia and NK.

 

What "genocide" would that be? People rush to call any military action involving civilians (even if many), "genocide" - thereby demeaning the word and making it hollow. Turkish actions in North Syria ought to be called out and opposed, but this can be done without hyperbole.

 

Then there's the issue of the post above being blatantly hypocritical, considering previous supportive comments and views of the poster regarding Assad's regime's and Russia's military operations and practices in Syria - which resulted in far more casualties and destruction. Add to that poster's persistent anti-Western, anti-EU, anti-NATO positions - and the context of calling for Turkey removal from NATO etc. is "somewhat" more nuanced.

[Morch]

6 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Turkey has mostly gotten away with the genocide against the Armenians. So it probably thinks it can against the Kurds too.

 

That was quite a long time ago, and you may want to read up on what (some of) the Kurds were up to in this context. There is no comparable "genocide", or anything approaching it, on the horizon.

[Morch]

2 hours ago, BuaBS said:

No-one or country is going to stop them . All have their own agenda , which doesn't include the Kurds.

 

Don't recall you caring much about the Kurds on previous Syria-related topics. Guess they are useful as means of bashing, hence the change. As for the above - there is no country which will put aid to the Kurds beyond it's own  interests. Not a particularly unique situation. That said, certain involved parties do have an interest in preventing Turkey from reaching too far, or achieving too much regional influence. Some people sympathize with Kurdish ambitions (I know I do), but in realistic terms they over-reached (or over played their hand) with declaring Afrin part of Rojava.

 

 

[Morch]

 

Some may be chagrined by what would be seen as the EU giving in to Erdogan. But while the EU may have a whole lot of issues with Erdogan's human rights record, and Turkey's military operations in northern Syria - the main item on the menu is the migrant/refugee threat. So pay up they will, holding their noses while trying to get away with as much criticism of Turkey as possible. I think it's called pragmatism. And yes, it sometimes sucks.

[malagateddy]

What about Erdogan wanting to assemble an Army of Islam to wipe Israel off the face of the map???

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Morch]

52 minutes ago, malagateddy said:

What about Erdogan wanting to assemble an Army of Islam to wipe Israel off the face of the map???

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

 

More like Erdogan saying. And he says an awful lot of things. Most of which remains hot air. Doesn't make him a nice person or harmless. Just more bark than bite.

[geriatrickid]

13 hours ago, BuaBS said:

And not a word on the ongoing genocide against the Kurds in Syria ?

Turkey should be out of Nato , never in the EU and boycotted/sanctions at least the same as the sanctions against Russia and NK.

While you are correct, keeping Turkey with Nato blocks Russian expansion. None of the key Nato members actually trusts Turkey anyway.

[Morch]

14 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

While you are correct, keeping Turkey with Nato blocks Russian expansion. None of the key Nato members actually trusts Turkey anyway.

 

keep your friends close, and your frenemies closer