ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2021) Turkey expects its 2016 migration deal with the European Union to be revised amid expectations of an influx of refugees from Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.
Under this agreement, Turkey takes back all undocumented migrants who arrive in Greece through its territory in exchange for the accommodation of Syrian refugees in Europe on a one-for-one basis and financial aid from Brussels.
"Turkey fulfilled all its obligations under the agreement but the EU did not fulfill its obligations either because of its political stand or because of bureaucracy. We agreed to update this agreement and we submitted our proposals to the European side. A year passed but we got no response. Apparently, they decided that no one travels anywhere anyway because of the pandemic and there is no need to hurry. Then the EU decided to allocate $3 billion to Turkey for the refugees. However, this is only a decision, it has to be included in documents in order to be implemented," Cavusoglu told reporters.
The agreement has to be revised, since the "refugee problem is escalating," the Turkish foreign minister went on to say.
"Refugees are a political and economic problem. The EU has to abandon the approach 'let us give them money and no one should come to us, they should stay in Turkey'. This is not a solution. We have not yet seen a truly positive approach and proposals from Europe," Cavusoglu continued.
Turkey will not agree to accept new migrants from Afghanistan, the minister stressed.
"We have repeatedly said we cannot do it. However, we can provide assistance and provide out transport facilities for refugee transfer, for instance," Cavusoglu added.
