Turkey Threatens to Send Refugees Back to Europe

• 05.12.2016, 21:48
•  Europe,  Region

RT

The members if the European Parliament have expressed serious concerns about Turkey's perceived lack of progress in meeting the EU's preconditions for liberalising its visa regime for Turkish nationals. In its turn Turkey has threatened that will send migrants back to EU if visa-free deal fails.

The European Commission earlier this month said it was satisfied that the main part of the 72 conditions had been fulfilled by Turkey. But the European Parliament is refusing to vote until all the criteria are met, BBC writes.

Five criteria still to be met by Turkey are corruption, data protection, Europol, judicial cooperation and the legislation on terrorism.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the EU that Ankara would not change its anti-terror laws.

"We'll go our way, you go yours," he said.

The Turkish minister for European Union affairs Volkan Bozkir said changing anti-terror laws in Turkey would be impossible. He said he is losing hope of getting a deal on visa-free travel for Turks within Europe.

Burhan Kuzu, an adviser to President Erdogan in turn wrote on Twitter: "The European Parliament will discuss the report that will open Europe visa-free for Turkish citizens. If the wrong decision is taken, we will send the refugees," Volkan Bozkir, the Turkish EU affairs minister, told the BBC his hopes of a visa deal "are getting less and less".

However, Angela Merkel’s government is now working on a "Plan B" in case the deal collapses, Telegraph reports.

If Turkey re-opens its borders, asylum seekers will be confined on the holiday islands of Kos, Lesbos and Chios that lie just a few miles from the Turkish coast.

Ferry traffic to the Greek mainland would be suspended and failed asylum-seekers would be deported to their home countries directly from the islands, in a process that could take months or years, and would have a devastating impact on the tourism industry.

This EU-Turkey scandal is much more dangerous than it might seem at first glance. By rejecting the consultations on the cancellation of visas for Turks, the refugees automatically get under the huge threat by the Turkish side.

Such a decision definitely will affect Turkey's behavior towards the refugees. It is possible that the Turks will use them as a tool to "revenge" for breaking a promise by the EU...