Turkey Threatens Europe: "Unless Visas Are Removed, We Will Unleash The Refugees"
With Europe hit by the biggest migrant crisis in decades, the EU and Ankara signed the migrant deal. According to the agreement, Turkey would take back refugees seeking asylum in the EU in exchange for a multi-billion euro aid package and some political concessions, including the visa-free regime.
For months Europe has had to appease Turkey's dictator, Recep Erdogan, yielding to every incremental demand. Turkey simply asks for more and more. One such example was chronicled earlier, "Turkey demands EU hands over €3bn for refugees" in which we read that "a row has erupted between Turkey and the EU over billions of pounds in aid for Syrian refugees, casting fresh doubt on a fragile deal to halt the flow of people towards Europe."
Erdogan's current argument is that he wants the money to be transferred over to him directly to dispense with as he pleases, while Europe insists that UN agencies oversee that the money be spent as designated for refugee needs. Of course, the only reason why Erdogan is confident he has leverage is because Turkey is currently hosting over 3 million Syrian refugees that is holding back from flooding into Europe once more, potentially resulting in the most acute episode of Europe's refugee crisis.
This potential onslaught of Europe-bound refugees is also Erdogan's biggest trump card: should Europe deny anything Turkey wants, he will simply open the gates, breaking the agreement between Turkey and EU, leading to spiraling political chaos of the type already seen in Austria and Germany where anti-immigrant parties have stormed higher in the political polls in recent months.
Confirming precisely that, was a warning by Kuzu, a high-ranking deputy for Turkey’s ruling AKP party and former adviser to President Erdogan, who said that Ankara will send migrants back to the EU if the European Parliament won’t grant visa-free travel to Turkish citizens. Kuzu made several statements: "The European Parliament will discuss the report that will open Europe visa-free for Turkish citizens.
If the wrong decision is taken, we will unleash the refugees!" in what was an unmistakable threat.
He also told Bloomberg: "If Turkey’s doors are opened, Europe would be miserable."
As RT writes, it’s not the first time the deputy has threatened to flood Europe with over 2 million migrants from North Africa and Middle East, stranded in Turkish refugee camps."Finally the EU understood Turkey’s stake and loosened its purse strings. What did we say? ‘We will open the borders and set Syrian migrants on you’,” he wrote back in December 2015.
European Commission proposed to the European Parliament and the EU Council to lift visa restrictions for Turkish citizens, if Ankara fulfils five conditions by the end of June. They included:
- Implement measures to prevent corruption
- Hold talks on an operational agreement with Europol
- Cooperate judicially with all EU member states
- Bring data protection rules in line with EU standards
- Revise terrorism legislation
It was the last condition that Turkey found particularly unacceptable. This followed a firm statement by Erdogan who told the EU on Friday that Turkey would not make the changes, declaring: "we're going our way, you go yours".
Turkey's clear rejection and insistence that it has all the required leverage, sets Europe and Turkey for what will be a dramatic showdown in which Turkey will either be appeased one more time, or his bluff will be called.
If the deal falls apart, Turkey will surely flood millions more in refugees who will unleash far more political havoc across Europe, and certainly Germany, than Greece ever could.
http://archive.is/9AECA (zerohedge)