ANKARA (Sputnik) – The European Commission set up a 3-billion-euro (almost $3.3 billion) fund for Turkey in November, of which some 500 million euros have been transferred to Ankara to help it bolster border security and accommodate some 2.2 million Syrian refugees already in the country to dissuade them from traveling to the 28-nation bloc. The rest of the money has still to be to contributed to the fund by EU member states.
"We did not ask for money from the European Union. But there is a partnership between us to prevent the flow of refugees to Europe. We are carrying out the plan [according to] Turkey’s responsibilities. The European Union needs to fulfill the part that lies its responsibilities," Bozkir told the state-owned TRT broadcaster.
On Friday, Italy protested against allocating funds from EU member states' budgets to Turkey and instead called for Ankara to be provided with 3 billion euros from the European Union’s common budget.