European Union ambassadors expressed anger at a meeting this Sunday over what they see as an attempt by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to "blackmail" the bloc by allowing migrants to head en masse to the Graca border, diplomatic sources told Reuters.
Some delegates admitted that Erdogan has the EU in his hands because the member states of the bloc cannot agree on their attitude towards refugees and - in order to avoid a repeat of the migrant crisis of 2015/2016 - they believe that the bloc will have to offer more money to Turkey to prevent a new wave of migrants. arrives in Europe.
"The EU is not being blackmailed," said a diplomat at a closed-door meeting in Brussels on Monday, according to Reuters sources. The EU is scrambling to respond as thousands of migrants arrive at the Greek border from Turkey. The ties between Brussels and Ankara are already strained over security and human rights.
"When you sleep with the devil, you wake up in hell - that's where we are," said one ambassador during a meeting in Brussels. The EU's dilemma is reinforced by internal conflicts over how to share the burden of caring for refugees and migrants arriving in the bloc. One senior diplomat said the EU had been buying time since 2016, sweeping the problem under the rug by paying to keep refugees and migrants in Turkey.
In March 2016, the EU reached an agreement with Turkey under which Ankara stopped people on its way to Europe. In return, the bloc offered six billion euros in aid to more than 3,5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
However, Erdogan has been complaining for a long time that the money is slow to arrive and that it is channeled through humanitarian groups and not through the Turkish budget. After Russian-backed Syrian government forces killed three Turkish soldiers in an airstrike last Sunday, Ankara announced it would completely withdraw from the deal with the EU.
Of the promised six billion euros, the European Commission announced yesterday that 2,2 billion have already been transferred and that the rest has been allocated to specific projects, which means that they will soon reach the beneficiaries. The EU has not yet discussed additional funds on an official level, and diplomats said that the bloc's leaders, who are scheduled to meet in Brussels on May 26 and 27, should make a decision on this. Representatives of the Netherlands, Italy, France and Germany are among those who propose to commit more funds to help refugees in Turkey in the hope of pleasing Erdogan. At the same time, no matter how "logical it is for the EU to continue supporting Syrian refugees in Turkey, it is important not to give the impression that they are giving in to blackmail," one diplomat told Reuters.
Meanwhile, the EU could step up humanitarian aid to Syria's northwestern Idlib region, one of the last places controlled by Turkish-backed rebels. "That is so dishonest of Erdogan. We must not allow him to blackmail us and therefore we must not give the extra money too quickly. However, we will still have to pay in the end. What else can we do?" said one diplomat for the British agency. Turkey's regional neighbors, Greece and Cyprus, are particularly concerned about pandering to Ankara and are demanding that the EU take a tougher stance. During yesterday's visit to the Turkish-Greek border where thousands of migrants are trying to cross, EU officials promised Greece aid of 700 million euros to deal with the emerging crisis.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that half of the 700 million euros will be sent to Greece immediately. She promised Athena "all the necessary help". "Those who want to test the unity of the EU will be disappointed," Von der Leyen said.
At a joint press conference with EU leaders, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused Ankara of a "shameless attempt to use desperate people to promote its own geopolitical agenda and to divert attention from the dire situation in Syria." Mitsotakis said that Europe is ready to support Turkey in dealing with the refugee problem, but that it does not agree to blackmail.
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