Turkey frets over EU's illegal immigration stance

Egemen Bağış, the state minister charged with shepherding the country's EU negotiations, was in the Finnish capital of Helsinki earlier this week to pitch this very notion. “The metaphor of Turkey 'being a bridge' alone is no longer a valid argument by itself,” he said, arguing the country also has served as a barrier to many problems creating headaches for EU member-states in recent years, ranging from illegal immigration to the narcotics trade. Illegal immigration has been a source of tension between Turkey, an EU candidate country, and EU officials in the last couple of years. Many people who fled chaos in Iraq and conflict and poverty-stricken countries to the east of Turkey have flocked to the EU, seeking refuge in relatively stable and prosperous countries.

These people have started to venture out to reach Europe at all costs, sometimes getting killed in capsized makeshift boats in the Aegean waters between Turkey and Greece. Battered economies stemming from the global economic crisis in EU member-states, however, have taken a heavy toll on employment and social security systems. That helped turn the attention of public opinion to illegal immigration as a factor in growing unemployment in many countries. Politicians added fuel to the discussion when they rushed to capitalize on the sensitive issue in order to take advantage of the public interest.

Trading blame

The EU alleges that Turkey is not doing enough to tackle illegal immigration coming from the east, claiming the country has failed to fulfill its promises to repatriate illegal immigrants who pass through Turkey and are later detained in EU member-states.

“Well, this is not exactly true,” says Bağış, who talked with Today's Zaman on his return flight from Helsinki to Ankara. “First of all, we have done a great job of apprehending the bulk of these immigrants on Turkish soil,” he underlined, complaining about the lack of appreciation from Brussels on the matter.

Turkey apprehended approximately 65,000 illegal immigrants in 2008, marking a big spike from the previous year. Ankara maintains that the problem is a heavy financial burden on the state budget.

Bağış lashes out at EU critics who decline to pitch in to share in the financial burden for the repatriation of illegal immigrants to Turkey for deportation to their source countries. “I understand where these critics are coming from, but they need to be able to shoulder part of the financial cost with Turkey,” Bağış asserted, saying not all these immigrants have passed through Turkish territory.

Bağış uses the problem as another convincing argument that the EU needs Turkey much more than Turkey needs the EU. “Without us being involved in the resolution of the problem, the EU can't protect its borders from illegal immigration or the narcotics trade,” he pointed out, adding they would very much like to work out a solution in coordination with EU officials.

The discussion of illegal immigration has also strained Turkish-Greek relations, as Greece naturally becomes the first country for people who seek safe refuge after crossing Turkish soil. Turkey and Greece signed a re-admission agreement in 2001 to manage the flow of people, but Athens claims the treaty is not working. Brussels siding with Greece on the issue received a harsh rebuke from Ankara last month.

Re-admission treaty looks distant

The EU's top migration official, Jacques Barrot, who accused Turkey of turning a blind eye to the trafficking of illegal migrants to Greece, has drawn the ire of Turkish officials. The Turkish side contends the country has been facing a growing influx of illegal migrants and has been trying to counter this problem resolutely with its increasing capacity.

Remarks by Barrot, the vice president of the European Commission and commissioner for justice and security, came after the EU Council made reference to Turkey and its responsibilities on the same issue in the illegal migration paragraph of the Presidency's conclusions following a meeting held in Brussels June 18-19.

Barrot is expected to pay a visit to Ankara on Nov. 5. He will meet with both the interior and justice ministers to make a sales pitch for a re-admission treaty with Turkey. Bağış said both the EU and Turkey have agreed in principle to establish such a treaty. “However there are some strong disagreements on the substance which remain to be resolved,” he underlined.

Bağış emphasized that Turkey has continuously said that it would expect its European partners to share the burden on its shoulders caused by illegal migration but lamented the lack of cooperation from its EU partners. “So far we have not seen a real partnership approach on the issue, and I very much hope Barret will come with a different attitude when he visits Turkey next week,” he noted. “If the EU does not offer any substantive plan to share the financial costs, a proposed new treaty dealing with the repatriation of illegal immigrants would be stillborn” Bağış underlined.

The Turkish side complains that the financial assistance by the EU for the repatriation of illegal immigrants heavily favors the Greek government. Approximately 70 euros are provided to Turkey per person to offset the cost of re-admission, hosting, processing and deporting to the country of origin. However, the EU gives 1,000 euros per person to the Greek side.

Another point of contention between Turkey and the EU over illegal immigration is the former's exclusion from treaties signed by the EU with third countries. For example the EU's ongoing negotiations for a re-admission treaty with Pakistan would impact Turkey, as most illegal immigrants from Pakistan choose to cross Turkey in their transit passage to the EU.

Turkey's top negotiator also unveiled a plan to better secure Turkey's borders against the flow of illegal immigration and the narcotics trade. “We would establish a 50,000-man-strong border patrol agency to deal with this,” he told Today's Zaman. The new agency will monitor border security in line with Schengen criteria, he said. Bağış also revealed that the Reform Monitoring Group (RIG), a high-level meeting of key Cabinet members held every month to monitor the progress and implementation of EU reforms, is weighing lifting the reservations Turkey had lodged in the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.