Turkey Agrees with Europe to Return Migrants from Greece to the Country

At the European Union and Turkey meeting held Monday in Brussels, Ankara agreed with the European Union to return asylum seekers who enter Europe through Turkey. Turkey, which came to the meeting with new proposals, also requested that the European Union provide an additional three billion euros beyond the three billion euros that the union had previously agreed to pay to the country for migrant affairs.

Further negotiations are expected to take place between Turkey and EU member states to discuss the details of this agreement. According to Euronews correspondent reporting from the meeting, further negotiations to finalize the agreement have been postponed to March 17th and 18th.

Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, welcoming this initial agreement to block illegal migrant entry, said: “The Prime Minister of Turkey accepted at this meeting that all migrants who enter Greece through Turkey and do not need international protection will be sent back to Turkey. The European Union will also support the implementation of a rapid migrant return system from Greece to Turkey. All decisions made carry this clear message that illegal immigration to Europe has ended.”

Turkey will also implement from June its previous agreement with the European Union to accept economic migrants from Greece and return them to their countries of origin. The country hopes that implementing this commitment will be synchronized with the abolition of travel visas for its citizens to Europe and the opening of a new chapter in its EU membership application.

Ahmet Davutoglu, Prime Minister of Turkey, said about the agreement: “Our goal is to be able to stop human traffickers by weakening illegal migration. This method gives us the opportunity to help those who come to Europe through legal channels.”

Based on the proposal presented by Turkey, from now on, in addition to controlling the Aegean Sea to prevent migrants from entering Greek islands, all asylum seekers, including Syrian refugees, who enter Greece will be returned to Turkey so that after registration and review of their cases in the country’s camps, those with refugee status will be sent to other European countries.

Detaining migrants in Turkey and blocking what has become known as the Balkan route is one of the European Union’s goals from this agreement.