The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (66) has long threatened to give up the EU refugee deal and “send buses to the border”. Now he has carried out the threat: “We have opened the gates,” announced Erdogan on Saturday. Turkey stopped holding refugees on their way to Europe, the border was open to migrants. According to the UN Organization for Migration (IOM), 15,000 people traveled to the border with Greece by Saturday evening.
The refugee agreement with the EU
The refugee agreement of 2016 states that Turkey agrees to tackle irregular migration. Refugees and migrants who travel illegally to Europe should be returned more easily by the EU. It also provides for the EU to legally admit a refugee to Europe for every refugee Turkey takes back from Greece. Turkey is said to have received six billion euros in the past four years for the accommodation and care of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in the country.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on Twitter that over 76,000 people had left the border town of Edirne for the EU. At the border crossing, the Greek security forces used water cannons, tear gas and stun grenades against the refugees (see video). The Greek government announced the highest alert for the country’s police and army on Sunday evening.
Turkey expert Kristian Brakel, head of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s office in Istanbul, speaks of a “moment of crisis” – for the refugees but also for the Greek population. Turkey deliberately used the refugees for political reasons and informed them that the borders with the EU were open. You could neither go forward nor back.
“The primary goal of Turkey is to build up pressure for NATO to militarily support Turkey against the Syrian regime,” says Brakel. The main reason: Almost a million people would endure on the Syrian-Turkish border. Over 3 million Syrian refugees are already in the country. “If another million people push into Turkey, the country – but also the European countries – will face a very big challenge.”
Both the EU and Turkey – and of course Switzerland – would be very interested in holding on to the refugee deal, says Brakel (see box). “Turkey wants to continue to receive money from the EU, the EU still wants refugees to stay in Turkey.” Although the confidence of the European countries in Turkey as a reliable partner has been shaken, it is up to the European states to take responsibility. Brakel suggests that European countries use a distribution key to accept refugees from the Syrian-Turkish border. “That would significantly reduce the humanitarian suffering of these people, 60 percent of whom are children, and at the same time take considerable pressure off Turkey.”
Switzerland in particular has a responsibility here that it cannot avoid, says SP National Councilor Fabian Molina. «It would make sense to accept people now without red tape and to carry out their asylum procedures in Switzerland. A number of 5000 would be realistic, especially since we have free capacity and the federal centers are underutilized, »says Molina. That would also set an example for other European countries and relieve Greece. At the same time, pressure must be put on Turkey to stop its hostilities and to comply with the Refugee Convention.
The EU refugee deal is dead, says Molina. “It has always been a breach of the Geneva Refugee Convention because it prevented people from applying for asylum in a country and checking it.” What is happening now shows that it has always been a stupid idea to face Erdogan’s arbitrariness. Molina: “If you don’t dance according to your pipe, you can quickly get into a difficult situation.”
SVP National Councilor Gregor Rutz also says that one cannot rely on Erdogan to control the flow of refugees. It is now up to the EU to put pressure on the Turkish president to keep the refugees in the country. “The biggest problem, however, is that certain EU countries do not adequately guard their external borders,” says Rutz.
Some countries like Hungary do their job seriously, others like Greece or Poland, on the other hand, don’t have it under control. “The security of all European countries depends on whether the protection of the external border works and how well prepared you are for the flow of refugees,” says Rutz. He therefore calls for Switzerland to reintroduce its own border controls. “This is the only way we can manage migration and guarantee security in the country.”
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