Erdogan attacks EU asylum policy
A UN conference on refugees has begun in Istanbul. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and many world leaders are also attending the conference. Erdogan has called for more European cooperation with Turkey.
A UN conference on emergency refugee assistance opened in Istanbul on Monday (May 23). World leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are attending the conference to find ways to improve global cooperation to help refugees.
Prior to this conference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed the issue of asylum in an article published in the British newspaper The Guardian, praising his country's activities in this regard and calling for greater European cooperation with Turkey.
In this article, Erdogan wrote that the images that have been published around the world, showing refugees at the borders of countries, the bodies of children on the beaches, or poor and helpless people, are all symbols of the displacement of people who come from crisis-ridden countries around the world; countries such as Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
The Turkish President continued the article by writing that "Türkiye is a safe haven for refugees," and that the country is still considered the most generous country in the world in this regard.
While praising his country's policy of accepting about three million Syrian refugees, Erdogan criticized the international community, saying that international responsibilities have been ignored in most cases and that countries around the world have turned a blind eye to the crimes of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
In his article, Erdogan criticized European countries and said that only after Syrian refugees reached European countries did these countries react and agree to negotiate on the issue, and an agreement was reached between the European Union and Turkey in this regard.
Under the EU-Turkey deal, all refugees who enter Greece illegally from March 20 will be returned to Turkey. For every refugee taken back, Europe will legally accept one Syrian refugee from Turkey.
Turkey wants to see visa requirements for its citizens traveling to European countries lifted in exchange for cooperation with Europe in curbing the refugee wave, while at the same time speeding up Turkey's EU membership process.
The implementation of this agreement, however, has faced many problems.
In his article in The Guardian, Erdogan called for greater cooperation between the European Union and Turkey, saying that the EU should increase its cooperation with Turkey so that, as a result of this cooperation, the Assad regime and the "Islamic State" would be eliminated and democracy would be able to grow in Syria.
Erdogan's silence and threats
The Turkish President has remained silent and has not written anything in his article about the Turkish soldiers shooting at refugees on the border with Syria.
The Turkish President also did not explain why Turkish authorities are not sending educated refugees to Europe.
Erdogan's article was written at a time when his advisors and those close to his policy in Turkey are constantly threatening the European Union. Yigit Bulut, one of Erdogan's advisors, announced before the United Nations conference in Istanbul that if there is no progress in Turkey's relations with the European Union, the country will consider its agreements with the EU on the refugee issue to be over.
Burhan Kutsu, advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also announced on Wednesday (May 11) in connection with the European Union Parliament session that the parliament has an important decision to make.
"If the European Parliament makes the wrong decision, we will send refugees to Europe," Kutsou wrote on Twitter.
