EU summit: the fate of Syrian refugees in Turkey back on the negotiating table

At a summit bringing together the leaders of the Twenty-Seven, Thursday 24 and Friday 25 June, the European Commission proposed to allocate 5.7 billion euros to finance aid to Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan until 2024. For Turkey alone, an envelope of 3.5 billion euros is intended to support the 3.7 million Syrians who have settled there to flee the conflict that has raged in their country for over of 10 years.

According to a diplomat interviewed by AFP, the terms of funding have yet to be decided. An initial funding of 535 million euros has already been released to continue the EU’s actions in Turkey during the year 2021, the proposal specifies.

>> See also: War in Syria: in Turkey, some Syrian refugees no longer want to return to their country of origin

If Turkey is at the heart of the negotiations, it is because it hosts the “largest refugee population in the world,” said the European Commission in a press release dated March 30th.

In 2016, a year after the 2015 migration crisis, Brussels and Ankara signed a historic agreement. Intended to reduce the influx of migrants to Greece, it allows migrants who have not submitted an asylum application in Greece, or whose application has been refused, to be returned to Turkey.

For each illegal immigrant returned to Turkey, a Syrian refugee on Turkish soil must obtain a visa to enter Europe, within the limit of 72,000 places. Of the 6 billion euros that the EU was to pay for the benefit of Syrian refugees living on Turkish soil, 4.1 billion were spent. “The remaining 2 billion euros will be disbursed over the next few years, particularly in the area of ​​infrastructure,” the Commission said.

A fund to meet the needs of refugees

Thanks to this agreement, “the Syrian refugees were helped with their health, their education, their professional training, and the most deprived received subsistence allowances through a bank withdrawal card”, explains Marc Pierini, researcher at Carnegie Europe , former ambassador of the EU in Turkey (2006-2011) and in Syria (1998-2002), contacted by France 24. And the specialist continues: “Account has been taken of the infrastructure overload in the areas of reception, so that the Turkish population does not suffer from the crowds in dispensaries and schools for example. “

The European Union has, for example, put in place the Emergency social assistance plan (ESSN), a major humanitarian program that provides monthly aid to the most vulnerable refugees. According to the European Commission, more than 1.7 million refugees living in Turkey are benefiting from it. Worth 155 Turkish liras (around 16 euros) per person and per month, it enables refugees to obtain food, medicine, or to partially pay their bills and rent. The EU has also decided to grant an additional cash payment to try to help refugees cope with the devastating economic effects of Covid-19.

Despite this aid, the living conditions of Syrian refugees in Turkey remain very precarious. “The cost of living and the lack of access to a regular income make it difficult for vulnerable families to meet their basic needs”, writes the European Commission, adding that this context favors “child labor “and” begging “within this population. “Many families also find themselves forced to reduce their food consumption or to live in unsanitary housing”, also warns the European Commission.

Strong disagreements within the EU and with Turkey

In addition, the renewal of the 2016 agreement represents a sensitive issue for the European Union. “The main sticking point [autour de cet accord] is at the level of the implementation of asylum policy by EU countries, which is slow and is the subject of disagreements between European countries, and therefore also with Turkey “, explains Marc Pierini.

“A major incident occurred at the end of February 2020, when Turkey mounted a police operation aimed at transferring non-Syrian refugees from Istanbul to the land border with Greece under the control of a thousand police officers, an operation which resulted in the transfer of non-Syrian refugees from Istanbul to the land border with Greece. turned short but severely degraded the climate of cooperation “, recalls the researcher.

After several years of tensions between Ankara and Brussels, their relations seem to be easing a bit lately. The new aid proposed by the European Commission “constitutes, in the conclusions of the European Council, a concrete point of progress between the EU and Turkey”, notes Marc Pierini.

But Brussels still blames Ankara for having stopped taking back migrants in an irregular situation on the Greek islands since the start of the pandemic. “We expect Turkey to honor its commitments, and this will mean preventing irregular departures and quickly resuming reception of those expelled from the Greek islands,” Ursula von der Leyen recalled in April.

For his part, NGO Amnesty International denounces, in a report published on Wednesday, “illegal forced returns” of migrants to Turkey, operated from Greece. “The Greek forces stationed at the borders violently and illegally arrest groups of refugees or migrants before summarily returning them to Turkey”, accuses Amnesty International.

After the 2016 agreement, the European Union wishes, for this renewal of the agreement, to review its assistance and “move from humanitarian aid to socio-economic and development support”, given the duration of the conflict in Syria.

According to the document, European funding must also cover “the most urgent needs of refugees and host communities, including health services and education, social protection, skills development and the creation of ’employment opportunities’.

The funds come from the common budget, but “member states can decide to add national contributions based on the assessment of needs,” a European diplomat told AFP.

A proposal which must still attract support. “These quotes come from documents of the European Commission which have not yet been adopted by the Council of Ministers. We must wait for a full agreement in the Council to decide”, qualifies Marc Pierini, however. “It is clear, however, that after nearly six years of operation of the EU Facility for Refugees from Turkey and after 10 years of war in Syria with no peace agreement on the horizon, it is time to move on to the stage of socio-economic support to facilitate the participation of refugees in the economic life of Turkey, ”added the former diplomat.