EU tries for new Turkey strategy to reduce flow
BRUSSELS — Turkey’s president derided Europe on Friday for not taking in more refugees — a dose of cold water for a European Union plan to give new aid and concessions to Ankara in exchange for stemming the unprecedented flow of people across borders.
EU leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels into the early hours of Friday agreed to give “political support” for an action plan for Turkey to help it manage its refugee emergency, including easier access to EU visas for Turkish citizens and sped-up EU membership talks.
The hard part, though, is persuading Turkey to sign on and raising money to make it work.
The EU package for Turkey would involve at least $3.4 billion in aid, officials said. But member countries have been slow to offer money for the refugee crisis overall and are divided over how much to help migrants and how much to help Turkey.
In a speech on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not address the refugee offer but accused the EU of being insincere about Turkey’s membership.
“We are far ahead of most EU countries but unfortunately, they are not sincere,” Erdogan said.
He took a swipe at those who suggested German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the Nobel Peace Prize for opening Germany to so many refugees this year.
“We have 2.5 million refugees, no one cares,” Erdogan said.
Turkey hosts more refugees than any other country in the world. Hundreds of thousands are sheltered in the refugee camps, but many more are left to fend for themselves. Europe has seen 600,000 new arrivals this year. In other developments: Hungary said on Friday that it would close its border with Croatia at midnight to control the flow of thousands of migrants and refugees across Europe. Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz says she will send border guards and equipment to help Hungary seal its border with Serbia, where thousands of migrants are passing.
Slovenia suspended regular train traffic with Croatia in anticipation of the influx of migrants wishing to reach Western Europe.
Greece authorities are investigating allegations that Syrian refugees who entered the country by land from Turkey were robbed and forced back across the border by Greek police. Greece is a gateway to Europe for people from the Middle East and Africa.