Turkey to aid EU in slowing migrant flow

If borders controlled, talks on membership to reopen

Migrants wait behind barricades Sunday as Macedonian soldiers build a fence at the Greek-Macedonian border near the northern Greek village of Idomeni. Many migrants in Greece arrive by sea from Turkey, which on Sunday agreed to help the European Union in preventing the travels of those who do not need international protection.
Migrants wait behind barricades Sunday as Macedonian soldiers build a fence at the Greek-Macedonian border near the northern Greek village of Idomeni. Many migrants in Greece arrive by sea from Turkey, which on Sunday agreed to help the European Union in preventing the travels of those who do not need international protection.

BRUSSELS -- European Union leaders and Turkey agreed Sunday on measures to help stem the refugee crisis and counter terrorism, aided by an EU pledge to relaunch Turkey's membership bid and provide financial support.

photo

AP

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (left), European Council President Donald Tusk (center), and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker prepare for a news conference Sunday at a summit in Brussels.

EU government chiefs met Sunday with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels to present a united front and implore Turkey to help deal with the fallout from violence in Syria as well as turmoil in the rest of the Middle East. In return for Turkey bolstering its border controls, Europe is dangling rewards that could bring the nation closer to EU membership.

"Our main goal is to stem the flow of migrants to Europe," European Council President Donald Tusk said as he entered the summit. "Approximately 1.5 million people have illegally entered the EU in 2015. Most have come through Turkey," he said later, during opening remarks at the session.

Shaken by the biggest influx of refugees since World War II and reeling from the Islamic State's terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month, the EU has turned to its southern neighbor for assistance in solving issues that have opened divisions within the bloc and raised questions about the sustainability of its border-free travel area. The deepening chaos in nations such as Libya and Syria has spawned a wave of people seeking shelter within the EU this year, most of them through Turkey.

The EU and Turkey will "step up their active cooperation on migrants who are not in need of international protection," according to a draft of the summit conclusions obtained by Bloomberg News.

This will include working together to prevent migrants from traveling to Turkey and the EU and "swiftly returning migrants who are not in need of international protection to their countries of origin," according to the draft.

In return, negotiations on Turkey's EU membership bid could restart as early as Dec. 14, the draft says.

But establishing unity among the EU's leaders may be difficult, with several European nations opposing contributing to the aid package.

"No blank check for Turkey," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told reporters before the start of the meeting. "No Belgian money for Turkey as long as we are not sure that the engagements are concrete and have been well carried out."

Agreement's terms

Ties between the EU and Turkey have frayed since Turkey started talks to enter in 2005, especially after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's governments strayed from EU civil-rights standards and the bloc's economic problems dimmed enthusiasm for expansion beyond the current 28 nations.

EU leaders were expected to use the summit to underline their commitment to giving Turkey a package of $3.2 billion to help it deal with the estimated 2.2 million Syrian refugees in its territory as well as to offer consideration of lifting visa requirements for Turkish visitors to the EU's borderless Schengen zone as early as next year.

"Turkish membership will be an asset," Davutoglu said after "no disagreements emerged" during the emergency meeting.

Both sides got concessions: The EU needs Turkish help to contain the flow of migrants into the bloc, and Turkey resuscitated hopes to join a bloc in which it would, by population, become one of the biggest member states.

During the opening session of the summit, Tusk laid the conditions for EU aid.

"We expect to see an immediate and substantial reduction of irregular migrants arriving to Europe," he said.

Furthermore, Tusk said, the EU nations want Turkey "to realize the common objective of coming closer together through reforms, the upholding of the highest standards of human rights and media freedom and the implementation of agreed road maps and benchmarks" that are part of the EU membership talks.

Michel said Turkey is "far away from membership" and that "there is much progress that needs to be made."

In a recent membership progress report on Turkey, the EU criticized Ankara for its interference with the justice system and pressure on the media. Last week, two more opposition journalists were jailed in Turkey.

EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini said there was enough to bind both sides.

"Turkey and Europe need each other," Mogherini said. "We are facing the same problems -- from the war in Syria to terrorism to the stability or instability for the region. We can be partners. We have to put all the issues we have on the table."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed, saying before the meeting that EU-Turkey cooperation is vital and that the Turkish government needs more help.

"Turkey is sheltering well more than 2 million refugees and has received only little international support, so it rightly expects that the European Union, the member states, will alleviate Turkey in tackling this burden," she said after arriving in Brussels.

Progress on Cyprus

Also at the summit, officials reported progress in negotiations on resolving a long-standing dispute over Cyprus, moving closer to removing a key obstacle to Turkey's EU accession bid.

In a televised news conference after the talks, Davutoglu said a solution could be reached "in coming months."

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker emphasized that the meeting was the first between Turkey and all 28 members states and said "things are moving in the right direction" on the Cyprus dispute.

While the Cyprus issue has long seemed the most intractable problem in Turkey's EU bid, both sides of the divided island are now led by advocates of reunification -- Mustafa Akinci in the Turkish-speaking north and Nicos Anastasiades in the Greek-speaking south. Turkey invaded the island in 1974 to prevent its reunification with Greece, and it still keeps about 35,000 troops in northern Cyprus, meaning it's technically occupying part of an EU member state.

"There is a clear will to move ahead toward a peaceful and amicable solution," Joseph Muscat, the prime minister of Malta, said on the sidelines of the summit on Sunday. "Indications are that we could expect some positive news about Cyprus in the near future."

Anastasiades and Davutoglu could be seen smiling and chatting during the summit, and they stood side by side for the traditional photo of the event.

Cyprus joined the bloc as a member in 2004, with the administration in the south representing the entire island and brandishing a veto right over any progress in Turkey's bid. Earlier that year, Greek Cypriots had rejected a United Nations-backed reunification plan, while Turkish Cypriots had voted in favor.

Information for this article was contributed by Ian Wishart, Patrick Donahue, Karl Stagno Navarra, Rebecca Christie, Marine Strauss, Helene Fouquet, Benjamin Harvey and Aaron Eglitis of Bloomberg News and by Raf Casert, Jamey Keaten and Maria Cheng of The Associated Press.

A Section on 11/30/2015

Upcoming Events