[WATCH] Turkey offered €3 billion, closer EU ties to stem migration

European Union leaders arrive in Brussels ahead of the meeting with Turkey • Video: DOI

Turkey will receive €3 billion and will resume talks on its potential European Union accession in exchange for its help in stemming the flow of refugees to Europe, draft conclusions of a summit between EU leaders and Turkey showed.

“Both sides will, as agreed and with immediate effect, step up their active cooperation on migrants who are not in need of international protection, preventing travel to Turkey and the EU, ensuring the application of the established bilateral readmission provisions and swiftly returning migrants who are not in need of international protection to their countries of origin," according to a draft seen by Reuters.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to meet the 28 EU national leaders on Sunday for three hours from 4 p.m.

Aware of a sense of desperation in Europe for a solution to the humanitarian crisis, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has set a high price for Turkey’s cooperation: the easing of visa requirements for Turkish citizens traveling to the EU, resumption of EU membership talks, regular EU-Turkey summits, along with the financial aid for supporting refugees.

Turkey is being offered €3 billion to support 2.3 million Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey so they are less inclined to take a boat to nearby Greek islands in an attempt to migrate to Europe. The bloc also wants Turkey to make the journey tougher for non-Syrian asylum-seekers looking to use Turkey as a stepping-off point for Europe. Under the agreement, Ankara is also to take back people who reach Greece but fail to get political asylum.

Notwithstanding the deal, Turkey has pressed for more money and the draft has left the door open to adjust the amount later, while leaders of the 28 European Union states had struggled to agree on a final offers, Reuters reported. It also remains unclear how much money will each country pay and the timeframe of the provision of the money is also unknown. 

"The need for and nature of this funding will be reviewed in the light of the developing situation. As Turkey hosts more than 2.2 million Syrians and as it has spent $8 billion, the EU thus underlined the importance of burden-sharing within the framework of Turkey-EU cooperation," the draft said.

A visa-free travel in Europe for Turkish citizens will also be implemented if Turkey fulfils its commitments on migrant flows. The draft talks of “completing the visa liberalization process i.e. the lifting of visa requirements for Turkish citizens in the Schengen zone by October 2016 once the requirements of the Roadmap are met.”

In addition, EU leaders also pledge to “re-energise” talks on Turkey joining the EU, but analysts say leaders of the European bloc, particularly Cyprus, are still at loggerheads over Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

Human rights concerns in Turkey, including the jailing of Turkish journalists and the oppression of minority Kurds, will remain on the backburner for now, as officials and diplomats say Europe’s priority with Ankara for now will be getting Turkey’s help to stem the flow of refugees.

Measures taken by the EU to mitigate the influx of refugees and asylum-seekers have done little to control movements and while winter may lower the numbers for a few months, it is also worsening the plight of tens of thousands stuck by closing borders in the Balkans.

Fuelled by the Syrian war, some 850,000 people have entered the EU this year and more than 3,500 have died or gone missing in what has become Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.