Erdogan to keep EU border open as migrant talks fail

THE president of Turkey said he would not close the border with Greece to prevent migrants crossing into European Union territory yesterday after talks with Brussels ended in failure.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged Athens to throw open its borders, and allow migrants to pass through Greece and into other EU countries after meeting the presidents of the European Council and Commission on Monday.

He said Turkey would host a summit in Istanbul with the leaders of France, Germany and possibly Britain to discuss the migrant crisis. “This is my proposal to Greece: open the doors. Those people will not stay in Greece permanently. Let them cross into other countries in Europe,” he said.

Some 35,000 migrants amassed at the Greek border with Turkey, where they clashed with guards, after Mr Erdoğan said late last month that Ankara would no longer prevent them crossing into the EU.

After the meeting on Monday, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said Ankara and Brussels had agreed to go through the whole migrant deal, which she insisted remained valid, to “identify” and “implement the missing pieces”.

Turkey, which hosts almost four million migrants and refugees, accuses the EU of falling short of its migrant deal commitments. The deal called for Turkey to halt the flow of Europe-bound migrants and refugees in exchange for up to €6billion (£5.2billion) in aid for Syrian refugees on its territory, fasttrack EU membership and visa-free travel to Europe for Turkish citizens.

Ankara says it has not received all the money, and that other promises have not been met.

“We will come together in Istanbul next Tuesday” with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, Mr Erdoğan said. He added that Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, could make it a four-party summit.

“We can start a new process with the EU,” he said, “We have taken many steps, and will continue to do so.” He said he hoped for progress on a new migrant deal by the time of the next EU leaders’ summit on March 26.

Europe has said it will consider taking 1,500 child refugees from Greek camps, but has focused more on reinforcing Greece’s borders, offering Athens 100 extra border guards, boats and aircraft and €700million.

The Greek government has been holding migrants incommunicado at a secret extrajudicial centre before illegally expelling them back to Turkey, The New York Times reported last night.