Mideast refugee crisis, EU visas for Turks, freedom of expression
Only a week after declining to halt the prosecution of a German comedian who mocked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, German chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in southern Turkey late Saturday to formally open the European Union’s (EU) new scheme for keeping Syrian refugees in Turkey—and, in consequence, out of mainland Europe. The visit comes at the end of a difficult year for the stalwart Merkel.
Initially lauded for admitting about one million refugees from Syria into Germany, Europe’s most prosperous nation, the chancellor has endured months of growing anger over what appears to be insufficient planning to integrate the refugees and, lately, has faced accusations of kowtowing to Ankara by allowing the prosecution of Jan Böhmermann — a comedian who, in a satiric TV sketch designed mock Turkey’s lack of free speech, performed a crude poem about Erdoğan – to move forward.
Europe and Turkey, the nation that geographically, historically and in the imagination straddles Europe, are wrapped tighter than ever in a Gordian knot that appears to have no undoing.
The trip was organized with the hope of subsidizing Turkey’s assistance in ending the European continent’s greatest wave of refugees since the end of World War II. More than 850,000 refugees, almost all from the Middle East, entered Europe after leaving Turkey last year, most of them ending their travels in Germany. Merkel hopes for Turkey’s support to bring the numbers down. In exchange, Europe has also promised looser visa restrictions for Turks travelling to Europe, and has agreed to accelerate negotiations over Turkey’s proposed accession to the EU.
Merkel appeared at a highly-controlled photo-op at a new refugee camp in Gaziantep, near the Turkish-Syrian border, accompanied by EU council president Donald Tusk and Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu.The visit was aimed at underscoring the first beneficiaries of the $8.6 billion that the EU has committed to provide for Turkey over the next few years in exchange for the re-admittance of all asylum seekers deported from Greece.
“I think it’s very important that the EU supports you,” Merkel said at the news conference, next to Davutoğlu. “Germany, as a member of the EU, is willing to do its bit.”
But Davutoglu accused Europe of “belittling” Turkey and said it does “not have the right to bombard with constant and endless questions” about free speech. In a warning, he added that Turkey’s migrant readmission agreement with Europe will not be fulfilled without EU visa liberalization for Turkish citizens. “Liberalization is vital,” he said, adding he expected Europe to take the necessary steps to complete the deal.
The visa restrictions may prove to be the biggest stumbling block to the deal. All three European politicians said Turkey must meet certain legislative conditions for the visa liberalization to occur, while Davutoğlu said it was a precondition for Turkey’s continued involvement in the readmission agreement. “If it doesn’t happen, then the readmission agreement will not come into play,” he said.
Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, was also fulsome in his praise of Turkey, setting aside a growing pile of allegations of human rights abuses against Syrian refugees in Turkey. “Today, Turkey is the best example for the whole world for how we should treat refugees,” he said. “Nobody should lecture Turkey on what to do.”
But even as the plan was being celebrated, cracks began to appear. About the accusations that Turkey is imposing its own limited view of freedom of expression in Europe, Tusk, said Erdoğan ought to develop a “thick skin.”
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that Turkish demands constituted a hindrance to the NATO mission in the Aegean Sea that both countries share. “Unfortunately, it’s clear that the obstacles… arise from Turkey’s unilateral demands and positions. Demands and positions which unfortunately are also expressed through a rise in activities which violate our airspace,” Tsipras said, after meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Athens.
Turkey, which is fighting against both pro-Syrian and Kurdish forces in the Syrian war zone, denied all allegations, calling them “baseless and unfair.”
Reminding reporters that a considerable decline in illegal migrations in the Aegean sea has been documented following the EU-Turkey deal, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said “the alleged violations in the Aegean airspace are caused by the problems related to the Aegean Sea. Turkey exerts sincere efforts and demonstrates its will for the comprehensive and lasting settlement of a number of interrelated problems in the Aegean.”
The tensions arose as Europe appeared on course to grant 70 million Turkish citizens visa-free access to the Schengen zone as the bounty for halting the tide of refugees over the Aegean Sea.
Meanwhile, a few days earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Dutch ambassador Cornelis van Rij to voice concern over cartoons depicting Erdoğan in a mocking fashion. Van Rij took advantage of the platform to ask Turkish authorities to clarify a call made to Turks in the Netherlands to report individuals who insult Turkey or its president.