EU leaders meet over refugee crisis with focus on Turkey
13:51, 15/10/2015, ThursdayU: Update: 13:55, 15/10/2015, Thursday
Yeni Şafak
Leaders from the member states of the European Union met to discuss a joint effort to tackle the refugee influx as Turkey, a non-EU state, seems to become the center of discussion
European leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday to discuss strategies for dealing with the wave of thousands of refugees trying to enter Europe.
Turkey is expected to be the center of the discussion of this migration summit as most EU leaders accept that tackling the refugee influx into Europe is almost impossible without the further cooperation of Ankara.
The summit will discuss financial support to Turkey, which is currently hosting some 2 million of refugees, mostly fleeing from the Syrian civil war, and providing humanitarian aid which would aim to prevent refugees from their journey to Europe.
According to a recent figure published by the EU border control agency Frontex, over 710,000 irregular migrants have entered the EU this year.
Member states of the 28-nation bloc have bitterly divided over the distribution of this huge number of refugees.
Most EU leaders have already convinced that without closer co-operation with the Turkish government, their efforts to cope with the refugee crisis would not be succeeded.
Some EU country leaders admitted that the bloc should do more to help Ankara deal with the influx of refugees even if they agree to include Turkey's EU membership negotiations and visa free travel on the agenda.
European Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair the meeting, said earlier that EU can consider Turkey's application to join the bloc, more visa waivers and more EU funding if Ankara effectively reduces the inflow of refugees.
He hoped the refugee flow could be decreased in winter season but warned noting, "We must be ready for spring and the threat of bigger waves flowing to Europe."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also underlined that the EU should further develop relations with Turkey to tackle the refugee crisis as she said Turkey played a “key role” in the issue.
“We won't be able to order and stem the refugee movement without working together with Turkey,"Merkel told ahead of the summit.
Merkel plans to visit Turkey this weekend where she meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and discuss the issue.
Merkel, one of the strong voices against Turkey's EU member bid, stated: "Treaties will be adhered to, and the EU's negotiations with Turkey conducted without pre-judging."