A Syrian refugee carries a baby over the border fence into Turkey. Lefteris Pitarakis/PA Images. All rights reserved.In November 2015, four years after the first group of Syrian people fled to Turkey, the EU-Turkey summit on the Syrian refugee crisis took place in Brussels. At the outcome of this summit, the EU and Turkey reached a deal that contained concessions for both sides. Turkey agreed to patrol the EU`s southern border of Greece, keeping Syrian refugees within Turkish borders, and accepting the return of Syrians not in need of international protection.
In return, the EU mainly agreed on three issues: an initial 3 billion euros of financial support for Turkey, a possible bid for visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to the EU Schengen area, and a re-energized accession process for Turkey. Regarding the first point, it should be noted that Turkey hosts 2.5 million Syrian refugees as of December 2015 and claims to have spent about 8.5 billion US dollars since 2011. The deal points out the EU’s commitment to share this financial burden by providing 3 billion euros. According to the Commission decision on establishing the funding, that money will be used to assist Turkey in addressing Syrian refugees’ needs.
The second agreement builds on the visa liberalisation dialogue with Turkey, which was initially launched in December 2013 as part of the EU-Turkey readmission agreement. The deal further states October 2016 as the expected date for the abolition of visas for Turkish citizens within the Schengen area. As the deal points out, that depends on whether Turkey fulfils the requirements set out by the EU.
