Why is 'Sometimes NATO Ally' Turkey refusing the EU offer to reassign €1 billion ($1.12 billion) in aid for refugees? (Economist).
Not unreasonably EU leaders have turned to the Turkish government for help to stem the flow of migrants.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Brussels in early October to discuss security issues including borders. But his government has rejected an EU offer to reassign €1 billion ($1.12 billion) in aid for refugees. It also opposes opening new camps or setting up processing stations.
Instead Turkey calls for the establishment of a security zone along the border in northern Syria where refugees could be resettled. This would require clearing the area of Islamic State (IS) fighters and, Ankara suggests, handing control to moderate Syrian opposition groups.
The plan would neatly serve Turkey’s separate aim of reducing the influence of Syrian Kurdish fighters. Many Turks are more worried about Kurdish rebels than IS. Yet Germany’s Angela Merkel has expressed doubts that the refugees’ safety could be secured inside Syria.
Not entirely by coincidence, the Turkish authorities have generally turned a blind eye to the refugee flow to Europe, though they have repeatedly prevented refugees from crossing the land border to Bulgaria and Greece and driven them back into Turkey. Hmmm......The plans of the 'Muslim Brotherhood' for EU[Rabia] are different. Read the full story here.
No comments:
Post a Comment