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| Europe offers deal to Turkey to take back migrants | Europe offers deal to Turkey to take back migrants |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| BERLIN – European Union leaders were locked in crunch-time talks Friday with Turkey, offering a detailed package of cash and incentives in a bid to end the continent’s historic migrant crisis. | BERLIN – European Union leaders were locked in crunch-time talks Friday with Turkey, offering a detailed package of cash and incentives in a bid to end the continent’s historic migrant crisis. |
| After hours of wrangling in Brussels, E.U. leaders reached a common stance overnight on a package of concessions. Under the deal, virtually all migrants attempting to cross the Aegean Sea by raft or boat — including Syrians fleeing the country’s five-year-old civil war — would be sent back to Turkey, which would, in effect, become the region's migrant holding center. The Europeans pledged to accept a relatively small number of Syrians, but no other nationalities, after legal processing in Turkey. | |
| [New plan for migrants draws scorn as Germany’s Merkel struggles for unity] | [New plan for migrants draws scorn as Germany’s Merkel struggles for unity] |
| Early Friday, the Europeans were pitching the offer as the only way to end “the human suffering” of migrants being exploited by smugglers. But human rights groups have cried foul, arguing that the plan instead is likely to dramatically boost the suffering of migrants who could now be stranded in Turkey, a country descending into instability and violence and with a dismal track record on human rights. | Early Friday, the Europeans were pitching the offer as the only way to end “the human suffering” of migrants being exploited by smugglers. But human rights groups have cried foul, arguing that the plan instead is likely to dramatically boost the suffering of migrants who could now be stranded in Turkey, a country descending into instability and violence and with a dismal track record on human rights. |
| European leaders insist that Turkey will rapidly strengthen its protections for refugees as part of the deal. But even as an agreement was being hashed out, Turkey’s authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to belittle European demands. He suggested such calls were hypocritical coming from the leaders of wealthy countries that were refusing to take in asylum seekers and leaving them to Turkey instead. | |
| “At a time when Turkey is hosting 3 million migrants, those who are unable to find space for a handful of refugees, who in the middle of Europe keep these innocents in shameful conditions, must first to look at themselves,” Erdogan said in a nationally televised speech in Turkey. | “At a time when Turkey is hosting 3 million migrants, those who are unable to find space for a handful of refugees, who in the middle of Europe keep these innocents in shameful conditions, must first to look at themselves,” Erdogan said in a nationally televised speech in Turkey. |
| [7 things to know about the incredibly complicated migrant crisis] | [7 things to know about the incredibly complicated migrant crisis] |
| Several sticking points were holding up the effort to reach agreement with Turkey. The Turks, for instance, are demanding at least 6 billion euros ($6.7 billion), but a draft of the European offer simply repeats an early pledge to give half that amount. Visa-free travel for Turkish citizens — a key demand of Ankara’s — would be granted by the end of June, but only if the Turks meet 72 arduous conditions. | |
| The “negotiations won’t be very easy,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who earlier had hashed out the framework of a deal with the Turks, told reporters in Brussels early Friday. | The “negotiations won’t be very easy,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who earlier had hashed out the framework of a deal with the Turks, told reporters in Brussels early Friday. |
| “The E.U. and Turkey have the same goal, the same objective, to help Syrian refugees especially, and to have a new future in our continent in a bright manner,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday morning before meetings began. “I hope we will achieve our goal to help the refugees and also to deepen E.U.-Turkey relations.” | “The E.U. and Turkey have the same goal, the same objective, to help Syrian refugees especially, and to have a new future in our continent in a bright manner,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday morning before meetings began. “I hope we will achieve our goal to help the refugees and also to deepen E.U.-Turkey relations.” |
| In line with Turkish demands, the Europeans were dangling the prospect of broadening talks with Ankara on its bid to become a member of the E.U. But Cyprus — the former target of a Turkish invasion and already an E.U. member — remained reluctant and was threatening to block a deal if it did not contain concessions on Turkey’s long-contentious attempts to isolate the island nation. | |
| “Turkey has to open its harbors and airports [to Cypriot boats and planes] and normalize its relations with Cyprus,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades told Euronews. | “Turkey has to open its harbors and airports [to Cypriot boats and planes] and normalize its relations with Cyprus,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades told Euronews. |
| Other European leaders also voiced concerns that Turkey was seeking to leverage the continent’s desperation to end the flows of humanity that have brought more than 1 million migrants to Europe from the war-torn Middle East and beyond over the past year. | |
| [Migrants seek landfall in Europe even as deal takes shape to send them back] | [Migrants seek landfall in Europe even as deal takes shape to send them back] |
| “An agreement with Turkey cannot be a blank check,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel warned. He echoed the sentiments of many colleagues who face complaints that Europe is selling out to anti-immigrant nationalists at home by seeking to outsource its problems to the Turks. | |
| Donald Tusk, the E.U. president, was scheduled to hold talks Friday in Brussels with Davutoglu, with a working lunch including all 28 E.U. leaders. | Donald Tusk, the E.U. president, was scheduled to hold talks Friday in Brussels with Davutoglu, with a working lunch including all 28 E.U. leaders. |
| Late Thursday, the Turkish prime minister signaled a tough bargaining stance. “We will not accept any proposal which will turn Turkey into an open migrant prison,” he told reporters in Ankara before his flight to Brussels, according to Reuters. | |
| Yet the deal was also seen as a possible boon to Erdogan, the Turkish president, who finds the Europeans courting him with a windfall of cash and incentives just as a crackdown on press freedoms and Kurdish dissidents is underway at home. | |
| “We hope there will be a good outcome for Turkey, the European Union and migrants,” Davutoglu added. | “We hope there will be a good outcome for Turkey, the European Union and migrants,” Davutoglu added. |
| Human rights groups, however, insisted the deal was anything but a win for migrants, particularly the hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans fleeing war. | Human rights groups, however, insisted the deal was anything but a win for migrants, particularly the hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans fleeing war. |
| “Our objection is to fast-track collective expulsions that fail to take individual circumstances into account,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement Thursday. “The breach of the right to seek asylum is not mitigated by the fiction that Turkey is a 'safe' country for refugees.” | |
| Over the past year, those asylum seekers, along with economic migrants trying their luck, have raced to clandestine Turkish ports, where smugglers put them in rafts and boats for the short trip to the Greek islands — and thus, Europe — across the Aegean Sea. Under the E.U. plan, Turkey would take back all migrants found at sea. | |
| Returning asylum seekers without a hearing is a violation of E.U. and international law, although technically, the E.U. could comply by offering rapid-fire hearings — some supposedly as fast as a few hours — to asylum seekers who make it Greece. But since the European plan is based on the assumption that Turkey will become a “safe” country for refugees, almost all migrants would be sent back to Turkish shores under the argument that the Turkey would be a benign benefactor. | |
| [As the route to Europe closes, migrants journey through grief] | [As the route to Europe closes, migrants journey through grief] |
| Turkey does not currently fully honor the Geneva Convention on refugees, making it technically illegal to adopt a blanket policy of sending migrants back there. But the Europeans have tried to get around this by saying Turkey should very quickly pass new laws to ensure that it offers the full gamut of humanitarian protections. | |
| Both economic migrants and asylum seekers f.leeing war would be sent back to Turkey. Europe is pledging to roll out a “one-to-one” deal on Syrians — meaning that for every Syrian returned, another would be brought legally from Turkey into Europe. | |
| Syrians who try to enter the E.U. via Greece illegally, however, would mostly lose the right to apply for legal resettlement. And the citizens of other nations at war , including Iraq, would have no hope of participating in the program. | |
| There are currently 2.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. Initially, Europe would only offer legal slots for up to 72,000. Since the plan is not mandatory, however, European nations would need to volunteer to take the Syrians in. It remains unclear which of the 28 E.U. nations would be willing to do that. | There are currently 2.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. Initially, Europe would only offer legal slots for up to 72,000. Since the plan is not mandatory, however, European nations would need to volunteer to take the Syrians in. It remains unclear which of the 28 E.U. nations would be willing to do that. |
| Franck Duvell, a migration studies professor at the University of Oxford, said asylum seekers from Syria and other war zones have good reason for not wanting to settle in Turkey, including the absence of full-fledged refugee protection. | |
| “Displaced people need to know where they can rebuild their lives.” he said. “The assumption that Turkey is a safe country doesn’t withstand legal scrutiny.” | “Displaced people need to know where they can rebuild their lives.” he said. “The assumption that Turkey is a safe country doesn’t withstand legal scrutiny.” |
| Beyond the legal hurdles, Duvell said there were also practical considerations. “How is it technically possible to administer the return of tens of thousands of people from Greece to Turkey?” he asked. | Beyond the legal hurdles, Duvell said there were also practical considerations. “How is it technically possible to administer the return of tens of thousands of people from Greece to Turkey?” he asked. |
| And even if a deal is struck, Duvell said he doubted that people would be dissuaded from making the voyage: Many of those now traveling, he said, are the wives and children of men who ventured to Europe last year and now want to reunify their families. | |
| Griff Witte in London and Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin contributed to this report. | Griff Witte in London and Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin contributed to this report. |
| Read more: | Read more: |
| Europe’s harsh new message for migrants: ‘Do not come’ | Europe’s harsh new message for migrants: ‘Do not come’ |
| Turkey to E.U.: If you want to send us your migrants, send money, too | Turkey to E.U.: If you want to send us your migrants, send money, too |
| David Cameron blasted for calling people in refugee camp ‘a bunch of migrants’ | David Cameron blasted for calling people in refugee camp ‘a bunch of migrants’ |
| Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world | Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world |