EU asks Turkey's Erdogan for help with refugee influx
- 9 years ago
Having been caught wrong-footed by the influx of refugees from Syria, the EU is asking Turkey for help.
Brussels has previously been particularly critical of the government’s crackdown on the media back home.
Turkey regularly features low on media freedom ranking worldwide.
But now the EU wants to woo the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, into stemming the flow of migrants into Europe.
And the former prime minister wasted no time in reminding EU officials in how Turkey has taken in its fair share of people fleeing the conflict in Syria.
“Right now, we have 2.5 million refugees in our country. We’ve spent 7.8 billion dollars and received only 417 million from the international community,” Erdogan told reporters in Brussels.
“In the whole of Europe right now, there are 250,000 refugees and migrants,” he said.
“Europe has to manage its borders better. We expect Turkey to do the same,” said Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council. “The situation where hun
Brussels has previously been particularly critical of the government’s crackdown on the media back home.
Turkey regularly features low on media freedom ranking worldwide.
But now the EU wants to woo the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, into stemming the flow of migrants into Europe.
And the former prime minister wasted no time in reminding EU officials in how Turkey has taken in its fair share of people fleeing the conflict in Syria.
“Right now, we have 2.5 million refugees in our country. We’ve spent 7.8 billion dollars and received only 417 million from the international community,” Erdogan told reporters in Brussels.
“In the whole of Europe right now, there are 250,000 refugees and migrants,” he said.
“Europe has to manage its borders better. We expect Turkey to do the same,” said Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council. “The situation where hun