Concrete steps needed from EU: Top Turkish diplomat

Concrete steps needed from EU: Top Turkish diplomat

Conditions have changed since March 2016 deal with EU on migrants, says Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu

By Gozde Bayar and Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey and the EU have initiated a new phase of dialogue but progress requires “concrete steps” by the EU, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Speaking at Anadolu Agency’s Editors’ Desk in the capital Ankara, Mevlut Cavusoglu said conditions have changed since March 2016, when Turkey and the EU first forged a deal on migrants.

“We will discuss [with the EU] what we can do [on refugees] under the new circumstances,” said Cavusoglu.

Cavusoglu criticized Europe for not welcoming refugees from the embattled province of Idlib, northwestern Syria, along Turkey’s southern border, and not providing support for people seeking asylum from there.

Europe's border does not start at the Turkish-Greek border, he said, but rather at Turkey's southern and eastern frontiers, he said.

The 2016 deal aimed at discouraging irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of some 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

But since then the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has ballooned to 3.7 million or higher, along with a new refugee wave of a million or more coming from Idlib, Turkish officials have pointed out.

Ankara has also repeatedly decried Europe’s failure to keep its promises under the 2016 deal, including delivering less than half of €6 million ($6.8 billion) in funds to help the Syrians in Turkey.

Cavusoglu added that other countries must follow procedures on asylum seekers in line with international law, just as Turkey opened its doors.

Ankara recently announced that it would no longer try to stop asylum seekers from reaching Europe.

Thousands of asylum seekers have since flocked to Turkey’s Edirne province – which borders Greece and Bulgaria – to make their way to Europe.

The Greek reaction to asylum seekers has been harsh, with many battered, attacked, or tear-gassed, and several killed by Greek forces.

With 3.7 million Syrian migrants in Turkey already, more than any other country in the world, Ankara says it cannot absorb another refugee wave.

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