RPT: REVIEW - Turkey's European Dream Fades As Migrant Crisis Continues

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th March, 2020) In the beginning of the week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a visit to Brussels, where he met with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss some pressing issues that have been vastly disrupting the relationship between Turkey and the bloc in recent years, namely, the situation in Syria and the migrant flaw.

After Monday's meeting, Erdogan left the venue without addressing the media. However, his office described the talks as productive, while Michel told reporters that for the European Union it was important to implement the 2016 deal on migrants and discuss ways of contributing to the stability in the region, especially in Syria.

Talks between the European Union and Turkey, which has been seeking to join the bloc since 1987, initially became stalled in 2016 following the attempted coup in Ankara. Back then, the European Union condemned the Turkish authorities for suppressing the country's opposition.

This time, the bloc and Ankara are at odds over the latter's decision to unleash a flow of migrants and refugees on EU member Greece earlier this month after Erdogan said the way to Europe was open in the wake of the fighting in the Syrian province of Idlib.

According to Turkey, one of the reasons for opening its borders to the European Union was the lack of compensation from the bloc in dealing with the flow of migrants. Under the 2016 agreement, Ankara promised to restrain the flow of migrants into the bloc, with Brussels pledging to provide funds to help Turkey care for the refugees.

TURKEY RESOLVES ISSUES IN 'MOST UNDIPLOMATIC WAY'

Turkey's accession to the EU, once a real deal, is now regarded as a very unlikely scenario, keeping in mind Erdogan's harsher rhetoric on the migrant issue, which many European politicians regard as a blackmailing, a political tool to exert pressure on the bloc.

The Turkish leader has recently said that his country would not close its borders with the European Union for migrants until the bloc fulfilled its promises pledged to Ankara, specifically, 6 billion Euros ($6.8 billion) in two equal tranches, as well as major concessions on EU membership and visas for Turkish citizens. Europe has also not lifted visas for Turks or unlocked the accession talks.

"I think the accession of Turkey to the EU became almost impossible in the last few days. On one hand, I understand that Turkey had to resolve the problem of millions of migrants living in their territory. On the other hand, the Turkish government resolved it in the most undiplomatic, dangerous and publicly annoying way," Milan Uhrik, a delegate to the EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee and a member of the European Parliament, told Sputnik.

CRISIS NEEDS TO BE RESOLVED AT EU LEVEL

An upcoming summit on migration problems in Istanbul comes as Erdogan's next step in reaching at least some progress in the stalemate situation. The summit, which is expected to be held on March 17, will be joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. Notably, Merkel has been an advocate of the so-called open-door policy, welcoming hundreds of thousands of migrants to Germany.

"Chancellor Merkel and President Macron are both responsible for former immigration crises and they are pushing for pro-immigration policy," Uhrik said.

According to the parliamentarian, the situation "has to be resolved on the EU level, not only by Merkel or Macron."

Meanwhile, according to Ioannis Lagos, an independent member of the European Parliament, the fact that Greece � a hub for refugee and asylum seeker activity in recent years � was not invited to the summit proves in absentia the event's incompetence.

"Given that Greece has never been invited and thus, will be absent, this summit has no importance at all. I wonder how it is possible to discuss such an issue, while my homeland, which is constrained to carry all this burden, will not be able to participate and express its opinions," Lagos noted.

No matter if one is a Turkish or a European politician, they will still agree on one thing � the 2016 migrant deal has failed dramatically, according to the parliamentarians.

"As it was said today in the EP, at least some of high representatives of EU consider the EU-Turkey migration deal to be still valid. They hope that the situation can be reversed to the state as it was few months ago. But I don't share this opinion. The deal is obviously dead. In current situation the EU sholdn't pay to the Turkish government not a single euro," Uhrik said.

A similar opinion was voiced by Greece's Lagos, who told Sputnik that the deal was doomed from the moment it was reached.

"This agreement has never been the case, actually. The Turkish side used the rules that were beneficial for Turkey and has never complied with the obligations of this agreement," the Greek politician said.

According to another Greek lawmaker in the European Parliament, Athanasios Konstantinou, this is not the first time that Turkey has used the migrant issue in its own interests.

"But this is the first time that Turkey does it, without any pretexts. This leads me to believe that, Turkey is in a very difficult position, after its failing efforts in Libya and now in Idlib, Syria. Both situations are turning to a political and geopolitical fiasco for Turkey," Konstantinou told Sputnik.

Last month's military escalation in Syria's Idlib, which caused unnecessary deaths both among the Turkish servicemen and the Syrian troops, is another cause and effect in the chain of political events that will most likely impact Europe's decision on Turkey's accession to the bloc.