EU prepares to respond to Turkey’s refugee extortion

European anger has increased over Turkey’s promises of an agreement with the European Union regarding refugees. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, and European Parliament President David Sassoli visited some sites in Greece near the Turkish border to show solidarity with Athens during its current crisis and to discuss urgent steps to deal with the situation.

Ankara disclaims its agreement with the EU regarding stopping the flow of refugees, especially Syrians, to Europe. This gives European governments the green light to discuss ways to impose sanctions on Ankara and demand the repayment of funds that had been allocated by EU countries years ago. The EU is also reviewing and evaluating all agreements signed with Ankara for fear of Turley’s retreat or failure to fulfill them in the future.

For her part, Von der Leyen confirmed Europe’s full solidarity with Greece in light of Turkey’s unilateral declaration not to obstruct the flow of refugees to Greece and Bulgaria from its territories, threatening Europe with a new wave of refugees after it previously happened in October 2015.

Von der Leyen stressed that all necessary support will be provided to Greece to help it cope with the influx of refugees arriving through neighboring Turkey. She noted that those who seek to test Europe’s unity will be disappointed, saying, “The pressure will not weaken our resolve, and our unity will prevail.”

Meanwhile, EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell and European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič have visited Ankara for high-level talks on the situation in Syria.

Borrel seeks to obtain Turkish promises to back down from its recent decision out of respect for the agreements signed between Ankara and the EU. Otherwise, there will be escalatory steps since the EU does not tolerate such matters, especially as all EU countries will suffer and not just one specific country.

This sharp stance is the same as that of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz, who rejected Turkey’s recent steps, believing that Ankara is extorting the European Union by opening its borders to thousands of migrants and refugees seeking to go to Europe.

Kurtz stressed that what happened is “an attack by Turkey on the European Union and Greece used to pressure Europe,” adding that the EU should not be subjected to such extortion.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said it is unacceptable for Erdogan and his government to express their displeasure at the expense of refugees rather than dealing with the European Union.

Merkel made it clear that it is unacceptable for the refugees to bear the burden of being put in a position to go to the borders and end up at a virtual dead end. She believes the solution is to negotiate with Turkey so that the situation can return to normal as previously, especially since Ankara “respects its obligations to support us even as the burden increases.”

Observers believe that the Turkish steps are just an explicit attempt at extortion by Ankara to obtain more money, which Ankara has been accustomed to in recent years. Kristian Brakel, country director of the German Heinrich Böll Foundation in Turkey, said that “the European Union is the one that made itself subject to extortion by Turkey. If European countries had agreed on a unified asylum policy, Erdogan would have had much less pressure.”

Erdogan is less capable of carrying out his threats than he might think, Brakel said. While dozens of people have made their way to the Greek and Bulgarian borders, it is not possible to talk about a wave of collective asylum, he added. This is evidence that it is not easy to control the collective movements of people from Syria and Afghanistan, contrary to what Erdogan always claims.

Jost Neumann, a German researcher and expert in refugee affairs, said that the unity of the European Union is now at stake, adding that a clear and specific position must be presented to prevent Erdogan from moving forward with his threats, or else there will be a major problem for EU countries in the coming period.

Neumann called for the necessity of recovering the funds that Ankara had received in recent years and holding it accountable for evading its obligations. The funds were not a free gift or grant, but based on specific obligations, he added, so as long as Ankara does not fulfill them, then these funds must quickly be recovered.

EU countries must take future measures to prevent Turkey or any other country from abandoning obligations with the European Union, Neumann stressed. The world has recently been going through many crises, including the spread of the Corona virus and the possible decline in global economic growth, he added, so it is not acceptable to enter into new crises due to countries that do not fulfill promises, such as Turkey.

So far, both the European Union and the United Nations have indicated that Ankara has not officially announced a change of position regarding the borders, but there are fears that Ankara may violate the refugee agreement it signed with the EU in 2016. But all indications point to the refugee agreement already having been breached if one looks at it exactly as it was written.

Demands are mounting in German political circles for the need to hold Ankara accountable for its recklessness in dealing with the situation. Leaders of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) called for the need to urgently reach concerted European action in order to alleviate the situation in relation to the refugee crisis on the Turkish-Greek border.

Armin Laschet, who is running to succeed current German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as CDU party leader, stressed the importance of reaching humanitarian solutions and to prevent “refugees from being used as leverage against Germany and Europe.”

Laschet demanded that Russia and Turkey, both of which are creating a situation around Idlib that will create new flows of refugees, stop taking steps that escalate the civil war in Syria at the expense of the Syrian people. He called for diplomatic steps to be taken in this regard.