President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after Friday prayer in Istanbul. Demotix/ Sahan Nuhoglu. All rights reserved.(Istanbul)--As the EU bends over backward to get Turkey to accept a deal to prevent Syrian and other refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants from leaving its shores or crossing its western borders, it’s worth thinking hard about what’s at stake.
Whatever short-term gains such an agreement might offer the EU and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, such a deal may come at the expense of efforts by the EU to address Turkey’s long-term human rights problems that threaten regional stability. It risks trapping ever greater numbers of asylum seekers in Turkey, which lacks a functioning system to protect them. And it sacrifices much of the EU’s remaining leverage with Ankara at a time when human rights and the rule of law in Turkey are at the worst level I’ve seen in the 12 years I’ve worked on Turkey’s human rights.
Far from being a safe country for refugees, as the EU deal contends, Turkey is also an increasingly unsafe country for its own population -- not least because its political leaders have opted for a repressive and intimidating campaign against all political rivals and critics.
