Turkey 'wishlist' obstacle to EU migrant deal

Turkey moved to bolster its credibility as the potential saviour of Europe's migration crisis on Tuesday, with fresh talks with Greece on how to curb the illegal flow of migrants from Ankara to Athens. The day before, it offered to take back thousands of migrants in exchange for more funding, visa-free travel for Turkish citizens, and accelerated membership of its EU membership. Demands branded as illusory by experts.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu leaves his office to welcome his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras in the Aegean port city of Izmir, western Turkey, March 8, 2016 REUTERS/Umit Bektas

There were no new surprises on Tuesday when Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras to discuss how to enhance their cooperation in tackling Europe's worst migration crisis since World War Two.

The day before Davutoglu stunned EU member states when he offered to take back all illegal migrants landing on Greece's overstretched islands in return for concessions including fast-tracking its EU membership application.

The issue is a divisive one, not least because it threatens to unearth tensions between Turkey and Cyprus, who has strongly rejected part of the EU-migrant deal.

In a statement on its website, the Cyprian government stated that Turkey must first meet its longstanding demands for recognition, before it lifts its veto on its accession.

Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe agrees that ceding to Turkey's demands of fast-tracking its membership, is whimsical:

"In Turkey, there may be an illusion that European countries and governments... would be ready to forget about fundamental principles on which accession negotiations are based and they're not," he said.

Turkey has proved a difficult partner for the EU to negotiate with, failing to honour an earlier three-billion-euro deal in November to stem illegal migration, and continuing its crackdown on journalists.

Rights groups are concerned that the gravity of the migration crisis may force Europe into accepting the Turkish proposal, even if that means ignoring its democratic principles.

"No one, not even Turkey's closest ally in the EU, Sweden, will accept such a blackmail," Cengiz Akhtar, a political professor at Istanbul University told RFI.

"There is no criteria for joining the EU called asylum criteria," he said in reference to the proposed agreement whereby Turkey would take back rejected Syrian migrants from Greece in return for Europe resettling them elsewhere.

"Turkey is pushing forward an imaginary support to the EU which so far it has not delivered."

Despite receiving part of the 3 billion euro EU package pledged by the European Union last November to stop migrants entering Europe, over 125,000 of them have arrived Akhtar argues.

Turkey may not be the ideal partner, but for leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it remains the main pillar of the EU's migration policy.

This puts Ankara in a position of strength, but this doesn't mean Europe will cede to all of its demands.

Critics concur that what is likely to come out of talks next week to secure a lasting deal is a repeat of last November's agreement: essentially an EU aid package to Turkey - but not the 6 billion they're asking for; Ankara taking back Syrian migrants from Greece and doing more to control its borders.