Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 23
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
For the EU it is crucial to cooperate with Turkey for the resolution of Syrian refugees' problems, Member of the European Parliament, European Parliament Rapporteur on Turkey Kati Piri told Trend.
"In order to handle in a humane way the large amount of refugees coming to Turkey and the European Union, it is crucial to cooperate," she said.
Piri noted that this cooperation means sharing the burden, both financially and in terms of hosting refugees; creating perspective for a future for Syrians; jointly fighting human smugglers and making a distinction between refugees and economic migrants.
She stressed that Turkey is the country hosting most refugees in the world and Turkish people have shown a great hospitality over the last five years to the Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
Piri believes that recent terror attacks in Paris will not have an influence on the EU-Turkey cooperation on migration. She noted that these events have made the EU countries more united and committed to fight the IS, but it has also again shown how divided the 28 countries are on the refugee crisis.
"Some Eastern European countries, like Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, have misused the attacks to once again raise their opposition to hosting Syrian refugees," Piri said.
She noted that in this situation a divided Europe is a weak negotiation partner.
At the moment, the EU and Turkey are negotiating on a common action plan, which envisages the EU's financial assistance in the amount of 3 billion euros, the intensification of negotiations on Turkey's accession to the EU and the intensification of the visa abolition process for Turkish citizens.
Turkey, in turn, will have to improve the living conditions of refugees hosted in the country, prevent the flow of migrants to the EU from its territory and repatriate the illegal immigrants who came to the EU through Turkey.
Edited by SI
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