The announcement came in a joint statement delivered late on Thursday following a meeting at the Prime Ministry in Ankara between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot, Swedish Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy Tobias Billström, representing the European Union Presidency, and Interior Minister Beşir Atalay.
“Turkey and the European Union agree to intensify their cooperation to meet the common challenge of managing migration flows and to tackle irregular migration in particular. Taking into account geographical realities and building on Turkey’s efforts as a negotiating country for accession to the EU, this cooperation will express the commitment of both sides to international burden sharing, solidarity, joint responsibility and common understanding,” the joint statement said.
The EU side, meanwhile, expressed readiness to consider additional assistance, both technical and financial, in particular in the areas of migration and border management and surveillance, the fight against irregular migration and trafficking in and smuggling of human beings and assistance to asylum seekers and refugees.
“Irregular immigration is a matter of major concern both for the EU and Turkey,” Barrot said after the meeting. “Many of the problems that Turkey faces are similar to what the EU needs to deal with. In that sense we have a common problem in our hands, and to address it we could both benefit from intensified cooperation,” he added.
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