EU-Turkey Deal
Because the vast majority of refugees arriving in EU in 2015 passed through Turkey, the country's cooperation was seen as central to stem the flow of people and prevent refugees from arriving at EU doorsteps.
The EU-Turkey deal is a declaration signed on 18 March 2016, under which the EU undertook to pay €6 billion in exchange for Turkey increasing its border controls and agreeing to deport migrants arriving on the Greek islands, particularly Syrians. Since the deal, 2,253 people were deported. Since March 2020, Turkey has no longer accepted returns.
The agreement was based on the premise that Turkey was a safe third country – a claim that has been refuted by numerous reports. Under the Asylum Procedures Directive, a country is considered safe if:
- it is possible to apply for refugee status and receive protection
- there is no risk of return to an unsafe country of origin
- there is no risk of serious harm
- and there is no threat to life or liberty on grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.
As the Lesvos Legal Centre documents, Turkey meets none of these criteria.
The deal had devastating consequences. It was used as a pretext to prevent migrants from travelling from the Greek islands to the mainland, trapping thousands for months or years in the so-called "hotspot system", overcrowded camps with no access to basic resources: hygiene, healthcare, education, security. The Moria camp on Lesvos became emblematic of this, at times hosting more than 20,000 people in slum-like conditions.
The deal also meant that Syrians were automatically excluded from the asylum system and faced deportation. Only those deemed "vulnerable" had their applications considered. Between 2020 and June 2021, this exclusion was extended to cover virtually all Syrians arriving on the Greek islands. In June 2021, Turkey was declared a safe country for nationals of Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as well.
Since 2011, Turkey has received €12.5 billion for "the reception and support of refugees." Of this, €878 million has funded the construction of a detention and deportation infrastructure, as well as the sealing of its borders with Syria and Iran. Mass raids, arrests, overcrowded detention centres, ill-treatment, and deportations to Syria and Afghanistan have been widely reported.
REPORTS on the consequences of the EU Turkey deal:
5 years of violence and misery under the EU-Turkey deal (Legal Center Lesvos, 16 March 2021)