EUROPE is panicking and, frankly, we should be too.
Desperate to stem the flow of refugees and migrants, EU leaders are considering giving more than 70 million Turks visa free access to Europe.
That’s in addition to a donation of six billion euros and the promise to revive negotiations on EU membership.
In exchange, Mr Erdogan’s government is expected to curb the flow of migrants through his country to Greece.
However, I’m not sure reducing migrant numbers in exchange for millions of Turks is particularly wise or welcome.
According to the Prime Minister, Turks will not flood into the UK as we have a “rock solid opt out”, but that hasn’t saved us from contributing financially to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds.
The money will be used to help Turkey feed and house migrants in refugee camps.
Under the deal, those already in Greece will be returned, forcibly if necessary, the aim being to reduce any incentive for people traffickers.
Each Syrian refugee arriving in Turkey will be exchanged with another already there who’ll be sent to an EU country.
But the plan is controversial, with the fate of those not fleeing war or persecution uncertain.
With Turkey’s poor human rights’ record, there are concerns they’ll simply be deported.
The UN claims the deal breaches international law, while Human Rights Watch says migrants shouldn’t be used as bargaining chips and that Turkey “cannot be regarded as a safe country of asylum for refugees”.
The deal has yet to be finalised and, with many EU countries unwilling to accept mandatory quotas, it may still fall apart.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s southern border remains closed to Syrians.
Turkey has always been an anomaly, a buffer between east and west, and we should tread warily.
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