The EU's decision to sign the migrant deal shows that Brussels has essentially agreed to ignore Turkey's numerous human rights violations, especially when it comes to the protection of rights of national minorities and freedom of speech, Slate said.
"Brussels is once again turning a blind eye to Ankara's authoritarianism and canceling visas for Turks travelling to Europe. In this case, the Turkish government and President Erdogan will be seen as the state government by the rule of law to the despair of the opposition, which has every reason to disagree with them," Slate Magazine reported.
In March, Brussels and Ankara worked out and agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for asylum seekers from Syria, on a one-for-one basis.
Earlier on Monday, a controversial EU-Turkey migrant deal entered into full force and the first group of migrants was shipped back to Turkey from the Greek islands. In return, at least 32 legal Syrian refugees were resettled from Turkey in Germany and 11 others in Finland.
In addition to billions of euros, Brussels also promised to accelerate Turkey's EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and Europe which could go into full force as early as this June.
"If Turkish authorities manage to achieve its application [the visa-free regime] in June of this year, any Turk with a biometric passport would be able to travel around Europe," Slate Magazine said.
Well, there is a possibility that Brussels could look the truth in the eye and decide to scrap the visa-free regime with Turkey, as it's clear that the government in Ankara is violating human rights. But this is unlikely because that would infuriate Ankara, which in this case would sabotage the implementation of the agreement on refugees.
