Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan accused the European Union of breaking its commitment in the migration deal. At the emergency summit in Brussels in March 2016, Turkey made a proposal to host all refugees who flee war and poverty in the Middle East and cross European borders. The EU leaders welcomed Turkey’s proposal that would curb notably the non-stop stream of refugees and pledged Turkey some benefits in exchange. The EU and Turkey struck a deal worth EUR 3 billion. However, in July President Erdogan claimed that the EU still owes Ankara EUR 1 billion under the deal.
Importantly, Brussels greenlighted short-term visa-free travel for Turks from end-2016 as part of the deal. Besides, the EU authorities promised to speed up negotiations on Turkey’s long-stalled EU accession. However, the final decision could be postponed indefinitely as Recep Erdogan stated his intention to reintroduce the death penalty in response to a failed coup.
Nevertheless, Turkey’s stance on the death penalty is not related to the outstanding debt of EUR 1 billion. The Turkish side insists that originally the deal was not fair. In practice, Ankara has already spent a whopping EUR 12 billion to provide migrants with shelter. "The (European) governments are not honest," Erdogan told German public TV station ARD. "Three million Syrians and people from Iraq are now in Turkey," he said. "The EU has not kept its promises on the matter."
