How did we arrive to the 7 March Summit?

Last year, approximately 885,000 migrants have entered Greece through Turkey. In spite of tough winter conditions, this number rose to 110,000 between 17 December 2015 and 31 January 2016. Such numbers which are unprecedented constitute a strong pressure on the EU system. Indeed, the Schengen system which was formed step by step since 1985 is under threat. In the last summer season, German Chancellor Angela Merkel came on board to try to find a common solution to this issue but did not receive unfortunately the necessary support from the majority of the Member States. At this chaotic situation which is becoming more inextricable day by day, all hopes banked on the Turkey-EU Summit which was held on 7 March 2016.

What kind of proposal Turkey has presented?

Turkey presented a proposal for solving the refugee crisis and enhancing Turkey-EU cooperation. According to the draft, Turkey will readmit migrants who try to reach Greek islands through Turkey swiftly. Furthermore, there will be units set up to follow up the flow of migrants coming to Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos which are experiencing the largest number of illegal migrants flows.  Moreover, for every Syrian readmitted by Turkey from the Greek islands, another Syrian from Turkey will resettle in the EU Member States.

What Turkey expects from the EU?

Turkey claimed speeding up the disbursement of the initially allocated 3 billion euros and providing Turkey with an extra 3 billion euros, amounting to a total of 6 billion euros in order to help Turkey deal with Syrian refugees till the end of 2018. It is also one of Turkey’s demands to move forward the completion of the visa liberalization process for Turkish citizens at the latest by the end of June 2016 instead of October 2016.

What have been the EU’s demands?

Before March, Merkel came together with French President Hollande. Two key messages were delivered in that respect. First of all, Syrian refugees will not come to Europe anymore and the EU will help Turkey deal with Syrian refugees. The second point was to end of attacks in Syria which constitutes the most critical and ultimate step to reduce the flow of refugees EU’s main priority is to close the Western Balkans migration route passing through Turkey and to prevent irregular migration. By integrating the refugees to Turkey, it is also foreseen to prevent Syrian refugees’ entry into the EU through Greece and Bulgaria

Is visa-free travel coming?

The European Commission published the Second Progress Report on the progress made by Turkey in fulfilling the requirements of its visa liberalization roadmap on 4 March 2016. This report assesses the progress achieved by Turkey in terms of fulfilling the criteria spelled out within the framework of the visa liberalization roadmap. According to the report, the possibility of removing visa restriction for Turks is highly based on the ability of Turkey to diligently fulfill all of the criteria included in the roadmap. In the event of Turkey fulfilling all of the respective criteria, visa liberalization may actually occur for Turkish citizens in June 2016. According to the report, Turkey still has 46 criteria pending to be fulfilled.