Turkey To Become European Union Member In 2016, If They Help With The Migrant Crisis

Turkey To Become European Union Member In 2016: EU To Allow Turks Access To EU In Exchange Their Help With The Syrian Migration Crisis

Added by Marcus Marvin on October 17, 2015.
Saved under Afghanistan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Europe, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Middle East, News, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, World News, Yemen
Tags: Britain, Europe, Turkey

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Plans to allow Turks access to EU visas in exchange for their country’s help with the Syrian migration crisis were branded as ‘bordering on insanity’ last night.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage warned the deal a possible precursor to Turkey becoming a full EU member could result in even more pressure on UK schools and hospitals.

He added that Turkey was ‘too big, too poor and too different from us culturally’ to be in the EU. But Turkey’s hardline president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, demanded membership as the price for stemming the tide of refugees pouring over his country’s borders into Europe.

In exchange for the visa deal and £2.2billion in aid which could include up to £260million from the UK Mr Erdogan will step up border controls, tackle people-smuggling gangs and re-admit failed asylum seekers who had entered Europe from Turkey.

Late on Thursday night at a summit in Brussels, EU officials agreed to speed up talks on visas allowing Turks into the EU’s border-free Schengen Zone, which could come into effect as soon as next year.

This would not automatically allow access to the UK, but could still fuel black market immigration to Britain.

Yesterday, as Mr Erdogan held the continent to ransom over the migration crisis, with the demand of three billion euros (£2.2billion) in aid, EU officials announced they would ‘re-energise’ membership negotiations with Turkey.

But critics said any deal on visas, or further moves toward handing the Turks EU citizenship, would only swap the prospect of two million Syrian refugees arriving from Turkey, with the threat of its 75million citizens being given the chance to pour in.

Turkey is far less well off than the EU, meaning that a mass of poor immigrants could be tempted to move west.

More than 95 per cent of Turkey’s territory is in Asia and its population is overwhelmingly Muslim, meaning the clash of cultures could lead to difficulties integrating with predominantly Christian Europe.

Extending the EU to Turkey would also mean the bloc shared borders with wartorn Syria as well as Iraq and Iran.

Mr Farage warned the proposal was ‘bordering on insanity’ and would give millions ‘access to come to Britain, to use the Health Service, to use our primary schools and to take jobs’.

He added: ‘Turkey is a state with a terrible human rights record run by a dictatorial Islamist president.

‘He is threatening to flood Europe with migrants unless we pay him three billion euros and accept Turkey into the EU.

This blackmail is completely unacceptable.’ Turkey has the upper hand in negotiations, as the EU needs help in coping with the biggest mass migration since the Second World War.

The country hosts more than two million Syrian refugees, and since January 350,000 people have tried to enter the EU in Greece from Turkey only 50,000 of whom were stopped by Turkish authorities.At the summit, EU leaders including David Cameron endorsed an ‘action plan’ for working with Turkey, including speeding up negotiations on visa rules and considering funding the huge aid package.

But Mr Erdogan yesterday still accused the EU of failing to do enough to share the migration burden, adding: ‘They keep saying, ‘We can’t do without Turkey’ … Then why don’t you let Turkey in the EU?’

The EU wants Mr Erdogan to co-operate on improving the lives of Syrian refugees including giving them the right to work in the hope it encourages them to stay put.

They also want to co-ordinate border controls and get Turkey to clamp down on people-smugglers.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will travel to Ankara tomorrow, said Turkey’s aid demand had been discussed and seemed reasonable.

French President Francois Hollande said Turkey would need to implement a deal to take back from Europe failed asylum seekers, as a condition of getting visas.

Turkish foreign minister Feridun Sinirlioglu yesterday insisted the agreement was still a draft.

Turkey’s accession to the EU has been barred for decades over its human rights record and security fears, but Mr Erdogan was able to force officials to the negotiating table because of the migration crisis.

Guy Verhofstadt, leader of Liberal group Alde in the European Parliament, yesterday warned the EU ‘should not make ourselves dependent on a country which is becoming increasingly authoritarian’.

The UN refugee agency yesterday warned there had been a sharp increase in migrant arrivals in Greece, with as many as 85 boats daily.

It comes as the number of British-bound migrants living in a shanty town near Calais has doubled to almost 6,000, according to the region’s senior official.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the action plan ‘will ease the refugee burden on Turkey whilst preventing further uncontrolled migration to the EU’, adding that the visa deal will not affect the UK.

Turkish military jets shot down an unidentified drone in the country’s airspace near Syria yesterday. A US official claimed the drone was Russian, but Moscow strongly denied ownership.

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