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EU says it's comitted to migration deal with Turkey

15 March 2017 17:55 (UTC+04:00)
EU says it's comitted to migration deal with Turkey

By Kamila Aliyeva

The European Union is committed to the migration deal with Turkey and expects Ankara to comply as well, a spokesperson for the bloc's executive arm told Reuters on March 15.

"We remain committed to the application of the EU-Turkey (agreement)," the spokeswoman said. "This is a contract of mutual trust and delivery, we expect that both parts will comply with their commitments."

Previously, Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs Omer Celik said that there is no reason to keep the migration agreement between Turkey and the EU in force.

Turkey has fulfilled all obligations under the agreement, while the EU has failed to keep any of its promises till this day, according to the minister.

“Turkey can change the migration agreement at any time and in any format,” Celik said adding that he believes the time had come for Turkey to reassess the migration deal.

The heads of countries and governments of the EU member states in mid-March 2016 agreed with Turkey on a joint plan to combat the migration crisis.

It provides, in particular, the return to Turkey of all illegal immigrants who arrived in Greece from the Turkish territory, and the EU's acceptance of legal migrants-Syrians from Turkey on the principle of "one for one."

Within the framework of these agreements, last May, the European Commission invited the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to lift visa restrictions for Turkish citizens if Ankara would have fulfilled the remaining conditions for the abolition of visas by the end of June.

According to the Turkish Office for the Prevention and Elimination of Consequences of Emergency (AFAD) there are currently 3.5 million Syrian refugees in the country. Turkey spent more than $10 billion on their maintenance.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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