Migration Management Removal Centre in Kumkapı, Istanbul. Photo supplied by author.The summit in November was organised, at Turkey’s insistence, to encourage closer cooperation between the EU and Turkey, to control migration westwards and to ‘re-energise’ the process towards Turkey’s accession to the EU.
The EU and Turkey agreed three main points: to prevent refugees leaving Turkey for the EU; to operate ‘bilateral readmission provisions’, i.e. accept migrants expelled from the EU and to send migrants deemed not in need of international protection ‘swiftly’ back to countries of origin.
For these services Turkey will receive an additional €3 billion of European aid and the promise of reduced visa restrictions. Announcing the deal, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu unsurprisingly ignored the punitive elements of the agreement and humbly stated that payment was not for Turkey but to improve the living standards of Syrians living in Turkey’s refugee camps.
