Avvocato Assassinato. Democratic lawyers protest at the Turkish embassy in Rome at the killing of Tahir Elci. Demotix/Andrea Ronchini. all rights reserved.At the end of an exclusive EU-Turkey summit that took place on November 29, 2015, the leaders of 28 European countries and the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu happily declared that they have finally reached a deal concerning the flow of Syrian refugees to Europe.
In return for a $3.2bn aid package intended to improve the life of 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, the Turkish government has agreed to increase border patrols at major crossing points in order to prevent more refugees from entering Europe. As part of the deal, the EU has also promised Turkey an easing of visa restrictions and re-energized accession talks.
Although the deal seems to provide a temporary solution for Europe’s ‘migrant crisis’ and although Davutoglu praised it as “a new beginning”, anyone following Turkish politics closely would agree that, in the long run, this deal does not bode well for either the citizens of Turkey, or for the Syrian refugees it is intended to protect. Nor, for that matter, does it bode well for the citizens of the EU whose leaders have, once again, acted quite shortsightedly and opted for a solution that would save the day, rather than for a sustainable solution that would benefit the people of the Middle East as well as those of Europe.
