EU and Turkey agree 3 billion euro migration deal

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EU and Turkey agree 3 billion euro migration deal



ANKARA: -- A crisis that EU leaders have been unable to solve alone.

The UN expects more than one million refugees to arrive in Europe by the end of the year.

So governments have turned to Turkey, which shares borders with Syria and Iraq.

Ankara is now asking that its long-standing membership application to be sped up.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu pledeged that his government and the EU would “work shoulder to shoulder regarding the refugee crisis.”

Turkey will get some three billion euros to help refugees in return for stemming the flow of migrants to Europe.

Visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to the Schengen zone is also part of the deal if Turkey keeps its promises.

Still reeling from the attacks in Paris, the president of France said tougher border checks are needed.

“There is a need for checks on people who pass through the Turkish territory, and we know that there are foreign fighters who have that intention and who use this route, and secondly there are also terrorists who could infiltrate: we have seen that in attacks in Paris,” said French President François Hollande.”

Officials also agreed that there would be two EU-Turkey summits every year from 2016.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-11-30

[NongKhaiKid]

Gotcha ! Turkey's in the driving seat and don't they know it, thanks to Merkel the Mouth, Juncker etc their hand has been strengthened even more.

[Yoram]

So, from the OP we deduce that Turkey COULD HAVE stopped the flow of refugees through it's borders but they didn't,

however, they will do in now for 3 billion Euros and a visa free deal and other perks from the EU,

who says that money can't buy everything?

[sirineou]

"Ankara is now asking that its long-standing membership application to be sped up."

Turkey as a member of the EU ? then the EU will extend its borders to Syria and Iraq. If they have a refugee problem now I like to see what the problem will be then.

[shirtless]

This is crazy all this deal will do is cost money and wont resolve the problem, In fact the EU will see a surge in Muslims coming from Turkey .

[simon43]

Turkey will get some three billion euros to help refugees in return for stemming the flow of migrants to Europe.

Would it not make more sense to use that money on the European side of the border to stem the flow of economic migrants?

My geography map shows me that only 2 European countries border Turkey ==> Greece and Bulgaria.

Surely it makes better sense to ensure that these migrants remain in Turkey, (where they are totally safe from war).

Being burdened with millions of economic migrants would also seem a decent reward for Turkey, which has been proven to be aiding ISIL.

Turkey in the EU and visa-free travel for Turkish citizens? EU might as well bend over and and ask Turkey/ISIL to mount them like a donkey.....

[JemJem]

I am Turkish, and I see this decision as a scandalous one. Most of the non-AKP people here in Turkey are very upset at this deal. By the way, did you know that there had been NO discussion of this crucial deal in the Turkish parliament beforehand ??! Sadly, Turkey is increasingly becoming (well, we can actually say 'has become', I guess) a place where one person makes all the important decisions.

This deal is going to cost Turkey a lot, in terms of security and economic/employment aspects. I am not against refugees but there is something called 'reasonable limit'. Even conservative estimates put the no. of Syrian refugees in Turkey now to around one and a half million people. And, this figure is bound to increase a lot, with this deal and with the continuing of the Syria war. Turkey isn't a country with a lot of resources and an efficient social benefits system.

And, for anyone who says 'Come on, your country is getting 3 billion euros', I will say that this is actually not a lot, when you think of the long-term costs of the refugees. There is also the important doubt about where the money (at least some of it) will go. I will hardly be surprised if a lot of the money ends up in the pockets of the AKP cronies.

Bad deal.

[sirineou]

I am Turkish, and I see this decision as a scandalous one. Most of the non-AKP people here in Turkey are very upset at this deal. By the way, did you know that there had been NO discussion of this crucial deal in the Turkish parliament beforehand ??! Sadly, Turkey is increasingly becoming (well, we can actually say 'has become', I guess) a place where one person makes all the important decisions.

This deal is going to cost Turkey a lot, in terms of security and economic/employment aspects. I am not against refugees but there is something called 'reasonable limit'. Even conservative estimates put the no. of Syrian refugees in Turkey now to around one and a half million people. And, this figure is bound to increase a lot, with this deal and with the continuing of the Syria war. Turkey isn't a country with a lot of resources and an efficient social benefits system.

And, for anyone who says 'Come on, your country is getting 3 billion euros', I will say that this is actually not a lot, when you think of the long-term costs of the refugees. There is also the important doubt about where the money (at least some of it) will go. I will hardly be surprised if a lot of the money ends up in the pockets of the AKP cronies.

Bad deal.

if I did my math right and there are indeed I million refugees in Turkey , then the Three billion will amount to three thousand per refugee. I am sure the money are not intended to settle the refugees in Turkey long term, so I would assume it would be for processing costs.

Long term settlement cost would certainly be much more than three thousand per person.

as you said, If indeed the money find their way to addressing the problem rather than the pockets of the politicos ..

at any extend it is a stopgap measure, even if the measure is successful it will only stop it at the Turkish border it will not eliminate it or reduce it, it will simply redirect it.

The solution is to stop it at it's source, eliminate the conditions that cause the refugee problem, reinstate stability in Syria.

At this time Assad is the solution,if things were so bad under Assad why did we not see a refugee problem then?

[SgtRock]

Fantastic result for a small number of Turks. Shaft the EU and get rich quick doing it.

Visa free movement and a sped up EU membership. What could possibly go wrong.

Win Win for Turkey.

Not made clear in the report, but as 3 bn is relative peanuts it is probably 3 bn a year.

Will it stop the influx. Not a cats chance in hell.

[h90]

I am Turkish, and I see this decision as a scandalous one. Most of the non-AKP people here in Turkey are very upset at this deal. By the way, did you know that there had been NO discussion of this crucial deal in the Turkish parliament beforehand ??! Sadly, Turkey is increasingly becoming (well, we can actually say 'has become', I guess) a place where one person makes all the important decisions.

This deal is going to cost Turkey a lot, in terms of security and economic/employment aspects. I am not against refugees but there is something called 'reasonable limit'. Even conservative estimates put the no. of Syrian refugees in Turkey now to around one and a half million people. And, this figure is bound to increase a lot, with this deal and with the continuing of the Syria war. Turkey isn't a country with a lot of resources and an efficient social benefits system.

And, for anyone who says 'Come on, your country is getting 3 billion euros', I will say that this is actually not a lot, when you think of the long-term costs of the refugees. There is also the important doubt about where the money (at least some of it) will go. I will hardly be surprised if a lot of the money ends up in the pockets of the AKP cronies.

Bad deal.

I think it will be different. Erdogan will hand out the money to his friends and family.....maybe 30% will be spent for something refugee related. And he'll send them to Europe the same as before. (Anyway they want to go to Europe, so you only need to open the door).

Europe loose 3 Billion, Turkey may loose some+reputation. Erdogan wins.

Specially as Erdogan almost openly supports ISIS (oil and weapon deals of his son), it is crazy to give him extra money.

[Baerboxer]

Gotcha ! Turkey's in the driving seat and don't they know it, thanks to Merkel the Mouth, Juncker etc their hand has been strengthened even more.

Merkel is far too vain and arrogant to back down or admit her cock up. Juncker is the puppet put in place by the federalist German and French socialists.

Merkel will keep to her real agenda. Use this to show that EU can only "work" with ever closer central government and decision making - decisions that will be imposed on all member states (and no doubt she wants Germany to police them).

Turkey must be laughing their hats off. They allow fighters to cross their border and join ISIS, sell weapons to ISIS and allow other suppliers to cross their border with weapons, buy oil from ISIS (a nice little earner for the president's family); and then allow hundreds of thousands of migrants to use their country as a staging post for illegal immigration to the EU.

And good old boy Juncker's response. Will give you lot's of money and anything else you want if you stop them. What a terd he is. Turkey will take everything and stop very little as the dictator President imposes a new Islamic dictatorship on the Turkish people. Maybe his aspirations for a wider Muslim empire are a little bit bigger than Turkey.

[Baerboxer]

This is crazy all this deal will do is cost money and wont resolve the problem, In fact the EU will see a surge in Muslims coming from Turkey .

Mekels performance on migrants, opening the door wide and then trying to force everyone else to bail her stupidity out and now this fiasco of rewarding and bribing Turkey to actually stop helping illegal activities (and being so naive as to believe they will stop) will drive more and more EU citizens away from the concept of a federal EU and more towards the nationalists.

Even if Merkel and gang accepted all of Camerons wish list, expect the sentiment in the UK to move more towards leaving the EU.

They couldn't manage a piss up in a brewery in the EU - but of course can tell countries like Israel, Thailand and others what they should do.

[SgtRock]

NongKhaiKid, on 30 Nov 2015 - 06:00, said:

Gotcha ! Turkey's in the driving seat and don't they know it, thanks to Merkel the Mouth, Juncker etc their hand has been strengthened even more.

Betcha Merkel is so happy

Hundreds of refugees fought each other on Sunday in a mass brawl at a Berlin shelter and more than 100 police were called in to restore order, in an episode underlining the challenges Germany faces in handling hundreds of thousands of migrants.

It gets worse.

Although violent incidents in such centres are frequent, the chaos in the shelter at Berlin's disused Tempelhof airport, which erupted as lunch was being served, was worse than normal.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/german-police-tackle-mass-brawl-at-berlin-refugee-shelter/ar-AAfNbSY?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=DELLDHP

What a cluster Merkel has created.

[Ulic]

I am Turkish, and I see this decision as a scandalous one. Most of the non-AKP people here in Turkey are very upset at this deal. By the way, did you know that there had been NO discussion of this crucial deal in the Turkish parliament beforehand ??! Sadly, Turkey is increasingly becoming (well, we can actually say 'has become', I guess) a place where one person makes all the important decisions.

This deal is going to cost Turkey a lot, in terms of security and economic/employment aspects. I am not against refugees but there is something called 'reasonable limit'. Even conservative estimates put the no. of Syrian refugees in Turkey now to around one and a half million people. And, this figure is bound to increase a lot, with this deal and with the continuing of the Syria war. Turkey isn't a country with a lot of resources and an efficient social benefits system.

And, for anyone who says 'Come on, your country is getting 3 billion euros', I will say that this is actually not a lot, when you think of the long-term costs of the refugees. There is also the important doubt about where the money (at least some of it) will go. I will hardly be surprised if a lot of the money ends up in the pockets of the AKP cronies.

Bad deal.

I see it differently, Turkey does nothing for refugees other than provide a space on the

ground/field. No schooling, no medical, no work permits, nothing. Refugees either rent

apartments and work illegally or are in camps funded by foreign governments and NGO's.

Turkey has moved away from secularism and toward religious extremism, represses

political groups, and press freedom. Erdogan has become a strong man only one step

from Hussein and Gadhafi. It is time to kick them out of NATO.

Turkey has a great deal here. 3 billion to be spent however they wish (certainly not on

refugees) and they may do what they should have been doing already, restricting

economic migrants from entering Turkey.

[JemJem]

I am Turkish, and I see this decision as a scandalous one. Most of the non-AKP people here in Turkey are very upset at this deal. By the way, did you know that there had been NO discussion of this crucial deal in the Turkish parliament beforehand ??! Sadly, Turkey is increasingly becoming (well, we can actually say 'has become', I guess) a place where one person makes all the important decisions.

This deal is going to cost Turkey a lot, in terms of security and economic/employment aspects. I am not against refugees but there is something called 'reasonable limit'. Even conservative estimates put the no. of Syrian refugees in Turkey now to around one and a half million people. And, this figure is bound to increase a lot, with this deal and with the continuing of the Syria war. Turkey isn't a country with a lot of resources and an efficient social benefits system.

And, for anyone who says 'Come on, your country is getting 3 billion euros', I will say that this is actually not a lot, when you think of the long-term costs of the refugees. There is also the important doubt about where the money (at least some of it) will go. I will hardly be surprised if a lot of the money ends up in the pockets of the AKP cronies.

Bad deal.

I see it differently, Turkey does nothing for refugees other than provide a space on the

ground/field. No schooling, no medical, no work permits, nothing. Refugees either rent

apartments and work illegally or are in camps funded by foreign governments and NGO's.

Turkey has moved away from secularism and toward religious extremism, represses

political groups, and press freedom. Erdogan has become a strong man only one step

from Hussein and Gadhafi. It is time to kick them out of NATO.

Turkey has a great deal here. 3 billion to be spent however they wish (certainly not on

refugees) and they may do what they should have been doing already, restricting

economic migrants from entering Turkey.

I don't know why you wrote 'I see it differently'. If you read my post above again, you'll see that I think about the same as you. I wrote that the deal is good only for AKP and its supporters; and bad for the rest. And, I wrote that some (maybe most) of the money will go to the pockets of AKP people. And, I also agree with you on Erdogan becoming a very authoritarian figure.

So, we don't see it differently

[bangon04]

"Visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to the Schengen zone is also part of the deal if Turkey keeps its promises"

and just how easy is it for a Muslim immigrant to gain Turkish citizenship? Any payment involved?

[MAJIC]

I am Turkish, and I see this decision as a scandalous one. Most of the non-AKP people here in Turkey are very upset at this deal. By the way, did you know that there had been NO discussion of this crucial deal in the Turkish parliament beforehand ??! Sadly, Turkey is increasingly becoming (well, we can actually say 'has become', I guess) a place where one person makes all the important decisions.

This deal is going to cost Turkey a lot, in terms of security and economic/employment aspects. I am not against refugees but there is something called 'reasonable limit'. Even conservative estimates put the no. of Syrian refugees in Turkey now to around one and a half million people. And, this figure is bound to increase a lot, with this deal and with the continuing of the Syria war. Turkey isn't a country with a lot of resources and an efficient social benefits system.

And, for anyone who says 'Come on, your country is getting 3 billion euros', I will say that this is actually not a lot, when you think of the long-term costs of the refugees. There is also the important doubt about where the money (at least some of it) will go. I will hardly be surprised if a lot of the money ends up in the pockets of the AKP cronies.

Bad deal.

Of course 3 Billion is not a lot,IMO it is just the down payment, Just like Greece these countries know how to screw the EU,it's not too difficult when you have Merkel and Juncker aiding and abetting the great EU giveaway. If anyone can see a good reason to stay in a Europe in crisis,then they would be hard pushed to find just one!

[Lukecan]

Don't worry about the visa waiver. For me as a turk the last place I'd visit is Europe. Countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Belarus, Ukraine, etc offer so much more in terms of nightlife Havent set foot in Europe for well over 10 years eventhough I have an American passport.

[Usernames]

Merkel has already moved on. After saving the refugees of the world, she is now in Paris saving the world from climate change. Merkelworld, now and forever.

[MAJIC]

Merkel has already moved on. After saving the refugees of the world, she is now in Paris saving the world from climate change. Merkelworld, now and forever.

Even though she is a Self gratifying Politician,who looks after Number 1, Have faith! although it's too late for us mere mortals to save our countries from Merkelism and her Nobel Prize Seeker ambition,the Check bin has already been made out to Merkel by the German people,and will be delivered to her personally at the next Election,far from being hailed as the saviour of Europe with her Nobel Prize, IMO she will go down in history as the worst Chancellor ever,whose personal ambitions wrecked the EU,and whose decisions on the Migrants influx,was blatantly against the German peoples wishes. Emergancy legislation could have changed the quantity of Migrants into a more reasonable amount.

,

David Cameron and Nigel Farage have a very good chance of pulling the UK out of the EU, let us pray that Farage can do what Cameron has neither the nerve or the inclination to carry through! No Country in the EU is going to give too much backing to Cameron, least of all Merkel.

,

[Lukecan]

Merkel is probably in love with Erdogan or something. I can't believe how a person like Merkel who was a leader of the centre-right and basically despised refugees suddenly changed her stance.

There are funny captions circulating in the Turkish media about Merkels love for Erdogan, let me translate it for you guys.

It basically says " Where is erdogan ;( "

"I don't care what they say about you, I still love you"

"Don't look at me like that, Emine will get suspicious"

"Next week we can meet at our place"

It refers to the listening scandal where German intelligince tapped some Turkish officials phone.

Erdogan: "Your guys tapped my phone"

Merkel: " I just wanted to hear your voice baby"

[NongKhaiKid]

Prior to this deal Mad Merkel indicated she'd be happy to support Turkey's application for EU membership as part of a German deal to bail her out of the mess she'd created.

Let's not forget if Turkey joins the EU the migrants have less of a problem because getting to Turkey means they're then IN Europe and are the Turks going to hinder the movement of their Moslem brothers and sisters even less than they do now ?

Years back the EU set up a commission chaired by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing who laid it on the line about the dangers of allowing Moslem Turkey to join the ' Christain Club ' that is Europe. He made it clear his commission's findings were what people thought but wouldn't say since it wasn't PC but he said it !

If not PC then imagine what it is to say it now with Merkel, Juncker, Tusk et al happily screwing Europe up to prove they're great humanitarians !

[Lukecan]

Prior to this deal Mad Merkel indicated she'd be happy to support Turkey's application for EU membership as part of a German deal to bail her out of the mess she'd created.

Let's not forget if Turkey joins the EU the migrants have less of a problem because getting to Turkey means they're then IN Europe and are the Turks going to hinder the movement of their Moslem brothers and sisters even less than they do now ?

Years back the EU set up a commission chaired by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing who laid it on the line about the dangers of allowing Moslem Turkey to join the ' Christain Club ' that is Europe. He made it clear his commission's findings were what people thought but wouldn't say since it wasn't PC but he said it !

If not PC then imagine what it is to say it now with Merkel, Juncker, Tusk et al happily screwing Europe up to prove they're great humanitarians !

Turkey joins the EU without getting into Schengen and Eurozone, problem solved. I as a turk don't want anything to do with the Schengen visa, a country should have a control over its visa policy. Us joining schengen means the arab,chinese,russian tourists will have a harder time coming to Turkey. Joining the schengen is like losing your independence.