Hollande vows 'no concessions' to 'Islamist' Turkey on rights, visas in migrant deal.

Hollande vows 'no concessions' to 'Islamist' Turkey on rights, visas in migrant deal. (Yahoo).

French President Francois Hollande said Saturday that the EU must not grant Turkey any concessions on human rights or visas in exchange for guarantees to stem the flow of migrants to Europe.

"There cannot be any concessions on the matter of human rights or the criteria for visa liberalisation," Hollande told reporters ahead of the resumption next week of tough negotiations between Turkey and the EU in Brussels.

Hollande spoke after meeting in Paris on Saturday with more than a dozen social democrat leaders from the EU, including Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel.

Turkish whistle blower claims Erdogan Ordered not prevent refugee flow to Europe.

Turkish whistle blower claims Erdogan Ordered not prevent refugee flow to Europe. HT @AbdullahBozkurt

According to insider @fuatavni_f, #Turkey president #Erdogan believes the more refugees flock to Europe, the more money he would ask of #EU

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) March 12, 2016

Whistleblower @fuatavni_f claims Interior Minister Efkan Ala ordered by #Turkey president #Erdogan to not prevent refugee flow to Europe

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) March 12, 2016

#Turkey president @RT_Erdogan calls journos who call on @NATO & #EU for action as agents of influence, contractors, acting in espionage

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) March 11, 2016

#Turkey president spox @ikalin1 scolds retired US envoys, says days of giving orders to #Turkey is over @BPC_Bipartisan

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) March 11, 2016

The case of Turkey's mysterious disappearing refugees.

The case of Turkey's mysterious disappearing refugees. HT: Balkanist.

It seems nothing short of phenomenal that the European Union has not considered the discrepancy between refugee registration and refugee tracking in its dealings with Turkey—nor the large group of vulnerable individuals fleeing through Turkey from conflicts outside Syria. Frantic negotiations set to continue this weekend will be based around bargaining for Turkey to prevent this large number of Syrian refugees from entering Europe, many of whom are already there. Read the full story here.

Doubts arise over Turkish refugee numbers while the EU is being strong armed into an impossible deal https://t.co/ERzR3VXoU1

— Peter Nut (@nipped) March 9, 2016

Turkey already blowing up EU deal on refugees, saying it won’t take back migrants & refugees from Greek islands.

Turkey already blowing up EU deal on refugees, saying it won’t take back migrants & refugees from Greek islands. HT :  KeepTalkingGreece. (Yahoo).

The EU-Turkey deal is getting better day by day… Turkey will not take back migrants and refugees already on Greek islands under a deal proposed to European Union leaders at a crunch summit this week, Ankara’s EU affairs minister said Thursday.

Minister Volkan Bozkir was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying :

Turkey would take back “tens of thousands” of migrants, “not hundreds of thousands or millions”, and they would “not include the existing refugees on the Greek islands”.

Bozkir said the offer did not include migrants already on the Greek islands and sounded a note of caution about how many people Turkey, which already hosts 2.7 million Syrian refugees, would take back.

“It would be more accurate to say the number of migrants to be returned to Turkey in the event of a readmission agreement with the EU will be thousands or tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands or millions,” Bozkir added.

A week before the crucial EU Summit on the Refugee and Migration Crisis, Minister Bozkir apparently wants to limit the number of migrants Turkey will take from the Greek islands.

As for the refugees on the Greek islands… apparently he wants to take none.
Bozkir’s statements quoted here. Hmmm.........You can't make deals with dictators and blackmailers. Read the full story here.

"We are giving the keys of Europe to Sultan Erdogan" liberal ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt.

"We are giving the keys of Europe to Sultan Erdogan" liberal ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt. (HLN). (ALDEgroup)

"We give the entrance keys to the gates of Europe to the successors of the Ottoman Empire: to Erdogan, Sultan Erdogan."

 During today's debate on the EU-Turkey agreement, ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt voiced strong criticism:

"We need practical arrangements with Turkey, but with this deal we try to outsource our problems. We give the entrance keys to the gates of Europe to the successors of the Ottoman Empire: to Erdogan, Sultan Erdogan."

Agreement goes against Geneva Convention

"Europeans will block all refugees who are looking for protection and it will be Turkey and Erdogan who will decide on an individual basis who is a political refugee and who is not, who can enter in Europe and who not."

"I find this hugely problematic. This is a type of collective 'refoulement' forbidden by the Convention of Geneva."

" Turkey has not fully adhered to the Geneva Convention and is rapidly falling into autocracy."

Agreement will not reduce smuggling

"This agreement will dramatically reduce the legal entry points into the Union,  forcing desperate refugees to look for other routes. We will see again the revival of the Lampedusa route. A new Malta route. A new Albanian route. A new Bulgarian route."

ALDE Vice President Sophie in 't Veld said: 

"The EU-Turkey deal is not a sign of strength, but a sign of weakness of the European Union. This deal is morally reprehensible. the fruit of short-term thinking, not a solution for the long term. Apparently the national leaders prefer a dubious deal with an authoritarian leader, rather than to show courage, vision and to take responsibility for a fully-fledged and sustainable European asylum policy."

Three pillars necessary to get a grip on the crisis

Verhofstadt urged the Council to roll out a European strategy based on three pillars:

1.    A Common border and coast guard - to manage our borders: To register the arrival of the refugees, to make the distinction between real refugees and economic migrants and to manage the reception centres.

2.    Use the 3 billion directly in the camps in Turkey. Not to give this to Turkish authorities or to international organizations but directly to the refugees who have to live today with 7 dollars

3.    An EU asylum and migration policy, including a relocation mechanism: "What we do with this deal is not changing or abolishing the Dublin regulation but it puts Turkey inside Dublin."