AP, Brussels
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and top European Union officials plan to travel close to Turkey’s border with Syria in hopes of promoting a troubled month-old agreement to manage a refugee crisis that has left hundreds of thousands stranded on the migrant trail to Europe.
Saturday’s trip to the Turkish border city of Gaziantep, which is expected to include a visit to a refugee camp, comes amid questions over the legality of the March 20 agreement between the EU and Turkey to start deporting migrants who do not qualify for asylum in Greece back to Turkey.The EU has pledged up to 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) in aid to Turkey over the next four years to ease conditions and create opportunities for the estimated 2.7 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey.
But a month after the agreement was signed, few EU experts have arrived in the field and many EU nations are dragging their heels on accepting more asylum-seekers. Diplomatic tussles loom over Turkey’s demands for visa-free EU travel for Turkish citizens. In an effort to persuade European and Turkish citizens of the deal’s merits, Merkel, EU Council President Donald Tusk, EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu plan to gather in Gaziantep across the border from the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Kobane, epicenters for years of civil war that have abated since a shaky February cease-fire agreement.
The U.N. refugee agency, rights groups and EU lawmakers have roundly criticized the EU-Turkey migrant deal over the legal and moral implications of expelling people from EU member Greece back to Turkey, a country that many consider unsafe on security and human rights grounds. Merkel has found herself in a particular bind, backing the deal even as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan uses an arcane law to sue a German comedian for mocking him.